The Magic of Music
by Alinora
Summary: A new student joins Hogwarts mid year and catches the eye of one of the Weasley twins. But who is she really and what secrets might she be hiding?
1. 0 Prologue

In introduction, as author notes are now evil…

This story had been posted previously, until the Powers That Be decided that it was a "Non-story: list, announcement, etc" and deleted it.  I have yet to get them to actually explain their reasoning for the deletion.

So, just to get this out of the way:  I do not own the Harry Potter universe.  It belongs to JKR and I'm grateful that she is willing to let us play in her world.

This is the story that precedes my other story, _The Rest is Silence_.  It mainly takes place during the period that has since become OotP.  As I wrote this before that book was released, it doesn't follow that time line.

As always, thanks to my Beta, LadyBrannon, who has been a lot of help in catching my mistakes, though any remaining are completely my own fault!  Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it!

Alinora

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Prologue**

            The room was dim, lit only by candles and the fire burning at the far end of the room.  Two women and a man sat around a small table, the serious expressions on their faces contrasting with the relaxed and cozy feel of the room around them.

            "But Father, why would I have to leave home?  Why are you even thinking it would be necessary?!?  Nothing's gonna happen to you!"  The girl's eyes, normally a brilliant emerald green, sparkled with tears she was determined not to shed.

"Alinora, listen to what I've been saying and this time hear it.  You know I've spent the past 17 years doing… research for people back in England.  That research has the potential to put me in a lot of danger."  He sighed, "If something happens to me I want to know that I've not left you two in danger.  Your mother will return to her own people- we always knew it would happen if I died- and she'll be safe there.  But you don't have that option.  While you're very well trained and have proven that you can protect yourself against any local trouble makers, the trouble that might show up after I'm gone is still more than I want you to have to face alone.  You know you still haven't come of age."

            He held up his hand to cut off the angry words she had opened her mouth to express.  "Alinora, you're barely 15!  You are a talented witch, but your training is not yet complete.  I've already spoken to my friend Albus Dumbledore and he has agreed to have you transfer to Hogwarts should the need arise.  I've kept him informed of your progress in school- the abilities you've shown- and, even if he didn't owe me many favors, he is very happy to see to the completion of your education.  You really should have gone when you were eleven, but due to my job we felt it wasn't a safe thing to do.  We've tried to make sure you've had good teachers despite it all…"

            His voice trailed off as his wife moved her chair so she was able to put her arms around her daughter.  "Ali, you know I wish you could come with me, but you can't live like that and I can't stay here without your father.  I hate to leave you, but you'll be safe with your god parents and you can always come to visit."

            "You're both talking like it's a fact that you're going to die- what do you know that you're not telling me?!"

            "We don't know any such thing will happen, but too many people I've worked with have been disappearing recently and later turning up dead.  It's best to plan ahead for all possible outcomes.  You know how situations have been developing with Voldemort and his Death Eaters.  I've tried to keep you informed of what's going on elsewhere in the world, despite our seclusion and the denial of the press that things are getting more serious.  What you might not have been aware of is that I've been helping gather information on various suspected Death Eaters in the hopes that they can be brought to justice.  It's a cause you know I feel strongly about and that I feel it's important for me to be involved in.  We've talked about this before, though not about my direct involvement, so I hope you can accept my decision, though I don't expect you to like it."

            Alinora had put her head down on the table while he talked, her mother now stroking her hair.  She stayed that way for a few more minutes after her father stopped speaking.  Finally she looked up, tears streaming down her face.  "I do understand and I do agree with your decision and your reasons.  I am very proud of that decision, but I HATE it and you'd better not go and die on Mom and me!"

            With that she jumped up, gave her father a brief, hard hug and ran out the door of the house and into the night.

            Her mother got up, as if to follow, her expression concerned.

            "No Angie, let her go.  She's still safe around here and I think right now she needs to be alone to come to terms with things in her own way."

            "But Marcus…" she bit her lip, looking torn.  He got up and put his arms around her.

            "No, we knew this would come as a shock, but to know now gives her a chance to prepare.  We've taken every precaution we can come up with, and I don't want to sacrifice myself for the cause if I don't have to, but if it comes down to that…"

            "I know.  I understand.  I hate it as much as Ali does.  You've been my whole life for 17 years- since the moment I saw you I knew you were the only one for me, despite what I knew that would mean.  I don't want to lose you now.  But we both know I can't help Ali if you go, so this is the only other choice."  She smiled at him, her deep brown eyes showing the fear she was trying to hide.  "I love you Marcus Freeman"

            And I love you, Angelique Roane"

            She laid her head on his shoulder and they held each other close as the faint sound of music came from somewhere outside, combining with the constant sound of waves.


	2. 1 It Begins

**Chapter 1: It Begins**

*************

            The fireplace was dark and cold, though chill winds blew fiercely outside the door.  Alinora sat on top of a worn trunk, silently looking around the room.  While still cozy, many of the personal belongs were now packed away and the room looked a bit impersonal.  Her eyes were haunted- speaking of a wealth of experience that no 16 year old should have yet had to experience.

            "Ali, sweetheart, your god parents are ready to go.  And I need to be leaving soon as well."

            She turned to see her mother behind her in the doorway, nervously fingering a brown fur cloak.  Through the open door, Alinora could see the figures of her god parents- now her official guardians until she legally came of age on her 18th birthday.

            "I'm ready" her voice was rough, as if she hadn't spoken much recently.  With that she got up and placed the picture of her parents she'd been holding into the trunk and snapped the latches shut.  She took another long look around the room.

            "You'll be back for a visit this summer- that's only a couple months and I'm sure time will go by faster than you think."  Angie went over to take Alinora by the arm and draw her outside.  "Dumbledore is expecting your arrival at the end of the week.  I… I'll miss you!"  At that she pulled her daughter into a tight hug before breaking away to run off down the beach towards the sounds of the crashing waves.

*************

            "Ah, Miss Roane!  It's good to finally meet you, though maybe not under such sad circumstances.  You're father was a favorite student of mine, and a good friend."

            She stepped out of the fireplace, shoving her trunk ahead of her and brushing off the bits of soot that had attached themselves to her cloak.

            "Hello Professor Dumbledore."  She examined him carefully and decided, after giving it some consideration, that her father had been right- Dumbledore looked to be someone she could trust and, seeing the twinkle in his eyes partially hidden by his half-moon glasses, someone with a keen appreciation of the ridiculous.  Maybe this wouldn't be quite so bad.

            The twinkle in his eyes brightened as he smiled at her, as he examined her in turn.  "I know that it will take a while for you to become completely comfortable around us- comfortable enough to lower the barriers you've put up to guard yourself from strangers."  He inclined his head to acknowledge the sharp look of surprise she gave him.  "Hopefully you'll understand soon that you will be safe here at Hogwarts."

            "But it is important for first things to come first, so it is time to get you sorted.  If you could please sit yourself in that chair over there" he motioned to a chair near by and she carefully worked her way around his office to get to it.  She watched as he retrieved a large, old, battered black hat from a shelf and brought it over to her.

            "When I put this hat on your head it will look into your mind and decide which of the four houses here at Hogwarts it would be best for you to be placed in- which you are most suited for."

            With a brief glance to see that she understood, he lightly placed the hat on her head and stepped back to wait.

            There was a buzzing sound in her ears, then the buzzing became a voice that seemed to be speaking from somewhere behind her head.

            "Humm, very interesting.  I've never sorted someone this old before- it makes the decision very different as you've already made many of the life choices that define your path.  You have a sharp mind and a thirst for knowledge and learning that would well suit you in Ravenclaw, but a depth of courage and loyalty that could be best served with those of house Gryffindor…"

            "I have no idea what you're talking about, all I want is to be put where I will be happiest in the long run-  I'll still continue learning and be loyal to those who've earned it no matter where I'm at.  I want to do as much good as possible..." She spoke to the disembodied voice determinedly. 

            Dumbledore studied Alinora carefully as she dealt with the Sorting Hat.  She definitely took after her father- stubborn and determined to a fault, but he also saw traces of a broad mischievous streak, currently dampened by the recent murder of her father, that he sensed could rival that of the Weasley twins when given free rein.  But there were elements of her mother too, though he'd never had the pleasure of meeting her in person.  That sense of being a bit removed from the day to day world, though very conscious of it; the look of hearing sounds or seeing sights that other people couldn't, which he wouldn't be surprised if turned out to be true.  He knew she'd inherited her mother's love of music and looked forward to encouraging that while she was here- everyone needed more music in their life.  Looking deeper he could see that she'd layered herself in enough protection and illusion charms that he doubted anyone would see her for what she really was for a while, but it boded for interesting times when she lowered them…  He smiled.

            The Sorting Hat continued it's perusal of Alinora's mind and her response to it's comments.  "Well, in that case, I think it'll be very important for you to be in house Gryffindor- they are always up for a bit of shaking up, which I sense you'll soon be giving them Roane."

            As she heard the hat proclaim her house name out loud to the Professor, she reached up and removed the hat from her head.  "How did it know my name?" she asked curiously.

            "Did the hat know your name?  It only looks at what we are, not who." he responded, giving her a significant stare, which she chose to ignore for the time being.

            "And now I think it's time for you meet your head of house and for us to settle your class schedule for the remainder of the year.  You should have no problems following what's going on as I know your parents have provided you with a very thorough education."

            While speaking he walked over towards the fireplace and took some black powder from a jar on the mantle.  Throwing it into the fire he said "Professor McGonagall, if you could come to my office when you get a minute."

            He turned back to look at Alinora.  She still held the Sorting Hat and was looking at it with a curious expression on her face.

            "Your secrets are your own, for now, but in this case I do feel that it would be best to give Professor McGonagall a bit more information than some.  She is the school's Transfiguration teacher, as well as your head of house, and will therefore be doubly interested in your particular situation.  I think it would be wise for you to do some additional course work with her outside of class, as well as with Professor Flitwick our charms teacher.  You can meet him later.  He'll be very interested in the ways you've adapted your charm work."

            He stopped as the door opened and Professor McGonagall entered.  "Ah Minerva, I'd like you to meet the most recent addition to Gryffindor house, Alinora Roane…"

*************


	3. 2 Sixth Year

**Chapter 2: Sixth Year**

*************

            "Angelina, I really want to thank you guys for offering to show me around today…"

            "It's nothing Alinora- we told McGonagall we'd be happy to do it and we are.  This place can be a bit confusing to begin with." she grinned.

            They entered the Great Hall to the sight of hundreds of student eating breakfast.  Alinora mentally braced herself and followed Angelina down the row between two of the enormously long tables.  Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet, two other sixth years she'd been introduced to the night before, mirrored them on the other side of the table.

            "The table to our right belongs to Ravenclaw, the one to our left is Hufflepuff's and the one on the far left is Slytherin's.  Okay," she said pointing to an open area coming up on their left at the Gryffindor table, "that's where we're headed.  See the two tall red heads?  That's Fred and George Weasley- we told you about them last night.  Beside George is their brother Ron, then Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, and Ginny Weasley.  She's a third year, the youngest and only girl in the family, so they tease her constantly.  On this side is Lee Jordan- he's a sixth year too- Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Colin Creevy.  They're all fourth years except Colin, who's in Ginny's class.  Everything making sense so far?"  She gave Alinora an impish grin.

            Alinora grinned back, "Clear as mud!  I'm sure I'll figure them all out eventually- like before I graduate…"

            They finally reached the empty seats they'd been aiming for and sat down beside Lee, with Katie and Alicia taking the seats opposite them, beside the Weasley twins.

            "Hey all, this is our newest addition to Gryffindor house- Alinora Roane- she transferred in.  McGonagall brought her by last night." Angelina said in answer to the curious looks they were receiving.  "She's a sixth year too and we're showing her around and introducing her to everyone.  So Be Nice!"  She shot a pointed look at the twins who did their best to look innocent and unjustly accused.  It wasn't terribly successful.

            One of the red heads, _Fred_- Alinora connected the name from the quick introductions- gave her a mischievous grin and pulled something out of his pocket and offered it to her.  "Welcome to Gryffindor house Alinora.  I'm sure you'll be quite happy with us."

            Alinora looked closely at the piece of candy he was holding out to her and a mischievous smile of her own played across her lips.  "While I'm sure I'll be quite happy here, I don't think it would be helped much if I suddenly turned yellow and…" she took a closer look at the candy, "sprouted feathers on my first day here.  But I appreciate the sentiment."

            Still grinning he shrugged and stuck the candy back in his pocket and shot a mock accusing look at the group of girls she'd come in with.  "Katie!  Alicia!  Angelina!  How could you guys have warned her off so quickly?!?  How will she ever feel she's truly a member of Gryffindor with you guys pulling pranks like that?"

            He turned slightly and punched George lightly in the shoulder to pull his attention away from the conversation he'd been having with Ron and Harry.  "Did you hear that George??  The girls have been spreading stories about us to Alinora- all completely untrue and unfairly biased against us too, I'm sure!  How can she be properly welcomed to the group if she won't trust us?"

            With that, George looked down the table, caught Alinora's eye and grinned.  She startled- it had felt like someone had shot a bolt of electricity through her whole body and a thought flew through her head so quickly that it barely had time to register, let alone be processed immediately.  She fought to control her expression as she saw his eyes darken briefly and his smile falter before resuming their original expression.

            Smiling at her he simply said, "Then I guess we'll just have to try harder."

            Breathing now back under control she stared back at him, a smile lurking at the corners of her mouth and a wicked twinkle in her eyes, "You're quite welcome to try," she said with a slight bow of the head to the two, "but I am completely sure I'm up to the challenge."

            _Dear goddess_ she thought _those eyes… what was that?!  What in the world have I gotten myself into here?!?  This promises to be a **very** interesting year…_

*************

It was a rather subdued group of students that finally arrived at King's Cross Station after the end of what could only be described as a very eventful, and not altogether pleasant, year.  The Hogwarts train had finally come to a halt and the students were busy unloading their trunks and other belongings from their compartments.

            Alinora got her trunk out onto the platform and tugged it to an unobtrusive location near a large clock.  She glanced up to check the time.  Ten minutes to go.  She sat down on her trunk and watched her classmates hurrying around.

            "Ali?"

            She turned around and smiled.  Katie and Alicia had come up behind her.  "We wanted to say good bye before leaving.  Aren't your godparents here yet?"  Behind Katie's shoulder she could see Angelina coming over too, pulling Fred by the hand and followed closely by George and Lee.

            "I'm going home first- to visit my relatives.  I'll be leaving in…" she glanced up at the clock again, "seven minutes."

            "Well, have a good time and try to write if you can.  If you get bored, send me an owl and you can come stay with me- I'd love to have you!"  With that Katie gave her a hug, which the rest were quick to do as well.

            "Do try to stay out of trouble for the next two months- especially you two" Alinora said, shooting a mock glare at Fred and George, who as always were trying to look innocent and still failing miserably.  "I don't know if I'll be able to send word to anyone this summer, but I'll definitely be seeing you all come September 1st."

            Glancing at the clock again she quickly took a seat on her trunk and grabbed the handle firmly.  She pulled a pendent out from beneath her shirt.  "Damn, I really hate these things…" she muttered, getting a shocked look from Alicia and a grin from George.  "Time to go- See ya!"  With that the clock above her head began to chime the hour.  She took hold of the pendent and suddenly she and her trunk disappeared.

            "Wow…"

            "Wish it were that easy for me to get home!"

            And with that they said good bye to each other and separated to find their families and begin their own trips home for summer break.


	4. 3 Interlude at the Burrow

**Chapter 3: Interlude at the Burrow**

*************

"Ouch!  Bloody he…?"

            "George?  You okay over there?"

            "Uh, yeah, fine.  A… gnome bit me."

            "Well, keep it down unless you want mum to decide we need to de-gnome the garden today too.  Weeding it is more than enough 'fun' for one day!" Ron grumbled from the other end of the garden.  

They'd been home on break for a month now and their mum had kept them as busy as possible to, as she put it, keep them out of trouble.  All it had really done was make them be more creative in their ways to entertain themselves, which was why Fred and Ginny were currently occupied inside under her watchful eye while George and Ron were baking outside in the garden.  Thankfully Harry would be coming in a few weeks to visit- their mum was sure to calm down a bit then.

            With Ron's attention turned back to his weeding George looked down at the letter that had fallen in front of him after a bird had whapped him on the head.  Glancing upward, he caught a glimpse of it flying away and did a double take as he realized it hadn't been an owl.  In fact it looked more like… a seagull?!?  Now he was really confused.  He'd gotten a letter, and letters were delivered by owls, not random other flying creatures!

            He shook his head and turned again to look at the letter.  The only address on it was his name, written in a handwriting he was all too familiar with.  Opening it up, he took out a single sheet of paper and unfolded it.

            **_Having a good summer?_**

As he read the single line of text he felt as if someone had caressed the side of his face with their hand and then tweaked his nose.  He grinned.  Though it was the middle of summer and he was no where near Hogwarts, the letters still came.  The funny part of it all was that it had been going on for months and he still had no idea who was sending them.  

            He'd gotten the first one a couple weeks after classes had resumed following Christmas break.  They'd had a particularly… interesting potions class that had resulted in Snape covered in purple slime and himself and Fred with two nights of detention.  He'd gotten to his next class and was pulling out his books when he'd looked back at the top of his desk and seen the note:  **_Priceless!  To see that expression on his face…  Thanks, you've made my day!_**  That time he'd felt as if someone had ruffled his hair- he could almost feel the grin of amusement the sender must have been wearing.  He'd glanced around the room, but couldn't figure out who could've slipped it to him.

            After that he'd gotten one every couple days, always commenting on something that had just happened or, if he was having a bad day, filled with a joke or charm to make him smile.  They were always followed by the sensation that someone was right there, giving him a hug to cheer him up, or poking him to make him laugh, or like today…

He sighed and resumed pulling weeds.  He'd needed a bit of a pick-me-up today too, though how they'd known…

Fred had heard from Angelina earlier in the week, who'd mentioned that no one had heard from Alinora since break had started.  With everything that had happened at the end of the previous year, they'd been a bit concerned to hear that, despite her warning that she didn't know if she'd be able to write them over the break.  Katie had resorted to owling Dumbledore to ask what was going on and had finally heard back from him saying that she was fine, but unable to use the owl network where she was this summer and that she'd join up with them at the end of the break.  That letter had come during lunch and eased their minds, though George had still been a bit concerned about the fact she was so cut off from them all.  He had the impression that her godparents were muggles, though that was not confirmed, and hoped they were nothing like Harry's aunt and uncle.  It was too bad they couldn't contact her- maybe she could've come to visit while Harry was here later on.  Despite their best efforts he and Fred had never been able to truly 'welcome' her to Gryffindor since, as she'd stated the day they'd all met, she was more than up to the challenge of dealing with their pranks.  Which made it all the more fun to keep trying.

_Yes_ he thought pulling the last of the weeds in his area of the garden _it would've been nice if she could've come to visit this summer…_


	5. 4 Hogwarts Express

**Chapter 4: Hogwarts Express**

*************

Platform 9 ¾ was rapidly filling up as students appeared and began loading their trunks and belongings onto the Hogwarts Express.

Standing off to one side was a petite, slender girl with long wavy hair of a deep auburn color pulled back in a loose braid.  Her eyes were a deep emerald green and, though she appeared to be scanning the crowd ahead of her, had a very distant look in them.  She was dressed in casual muggle fashion- capri pants and a short t-shirt that barely reached the top of her pants.  She was casually perched on a bench, knees pulled up and her arms wrapped around them.  In the midst of all the confusion, she seemed strangely calm with a slight amused smile showing on her face.

"Alinora!"

She looked up as she heard her name called, smiled and got up to go meet Katie who ran to give her a hug.  They were soon approached by Angelina and Alicia who also gave her hugs.

"You look… different some how Ali.  I can't quite place what's changed, but you look… comfortable with yourself- happier."  Katie looked at her curiously, trying to place what had changed.  "Did you have a good summer?"

"She looks absolutely spiffing Katie- she must have had a **_great_** summer!" Fred said, picking her up and swinging her around once before setting her down again, as George and Ginny joined them.

Alinora grinned at him then turned back to Katie.  "Yes, I did have a good summer."  Her voice seemed different too- there was more depth to it, though it was hard to define- and she seemed a bit amused by something.  "I'm really sorry I couldn't visit this summer, and that I was such a pain to get in contact with.  Dumbledore told me you'd tried to owl me.  I was a bit swamped- I had to take my O.W.L.s since I wasn't here fifth year.  It didn't leave me with a lot of free time."

"They made you take your O.W.L.s over break?!?"  Fred sounded outraged for her sake.  "And you'll have N.E.W.T.s this year…"

She laughed "I had to take them sometime and best to get them over with when I had the time.  I haven't decided if taking them a year or so late was a good thing- I got the extra year to learn more, but I think they made the test harder too!  Not the most relaxing end of break though and I've been spending a lot of the last couple days trying to catch up on my sleep."

As if to prove that she was still a bit tired, she yawned and stretched, causing the t-shirt she was wearing to ride up showing a bit of her flat stomach.

Ginny noticed George was staring rather hard and gave him a quick jab with her elbow before anyone else noticed, hiding a grin of her own.  She had a feeling that was the effect Alinora had been going for the whole time though, judging by the slight smile on her face…

The train was preparing to depart so they split up to find a compartment: Ginny to find Ron, Harry and Hermione and the rest to hunt down Lee Jordan.

*************


	6. 5 Announcements

**Chapter 5: Announcements**

*************

They were all seated in the Great Hall, the sorting was completed and the feast over with.  Professor Dumbledore got to his feet as Professor McGonagall tapped on her water glass to get the students' attention.  Dumbledore peered around the hall over the top of his spectacles and smiled.

"I would like to go over the beginning of the year announcements, now that there are no longer so many growling stomachs to talk over.  I would like to remind everyone, but especially our first years, that the Forest is forbidden to all students.  Hogsmeade visits will continue this year as usual for students third year and up as long as we feel that it is safe to do so."

"I'm sure you will all also be happy to know that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will resume this year…" he had to pause as the cheers from the Weasley twins – and the rest of the Quidditch team members- began.  Smiling broadly, he gestured for silence and as the room fell silent, he continued.

"Madam Hooch, upon consultation with the House Heads, will be posting times for team tryouts, as there are numerous positions to be filled before the season begins."

The hall went silent as everyone tried not to look at the Hufflepuff table where Cedric had once sat.

"There will also be two other events happening this year.  The first will be a talent show of sorts to take place after the Halloween feast, more details will be released later this week.  Professors McGonagall and Flitwick have agreed to serve as sponsors and I would like to have Miss Roane serve as the student representative.  She has a fine sense of the dramatic, is use to keeping her own council and has all the necessary skills and interests to be very helpful with this endeavor.  Once details are finalized you can go to them with any questions." 

He glanced down the Gryffindor table to catch Alinora's eye "If you could meet briefly with your co-sponsors after the feast…?"

Alinora flashed a wicked grin and nodded in agreement, trying to control the giggles his words had sparked as well as ignore the curious looks she was getting from her friends.

"Lastly," Dumbledore continued, "we will be having another Yule Ball this year a couple days before Christmas so those who wish to spend the holidays with their families will be able to do both.  The ball is only open to those fourth year or above, or anyone invited to the ball by one.  Hopefully we've given everyone more than enough notice to allow them to plan accordingly."

With that he dismissed them and the students started heading back to their common rooms to discuss the latest news.

"I'll be up in a minute- I just need to see what's up with this talent show stuff."  Alinora headed off towards the head table to speak to the professors.

*************

A couple hours later, thinking back, she was still amused.  She had gone down to meet Professors McGonagall and Flitwick as the rest of the students slowly left the room.

"Professor Dumbledore hasn't given us much direction as to where he expects us to go with this new idea of his, other than all talent must be music based in some fashion and the theme has to be 'in the spirit of the holiday'."  Alinora could tell from McGonagall's expression that she would've appreciated a bit more clarity.

"He did also mention that he wanted this to be a way for everyone to learn more about each other- to 'get under the masks we all wear' is what he said" added Flitwick looking quite excited about the prospect.

"Humm, well that shouldn't be too hard then" Alinora smiled at the look of confusion on their faces, "it will be Halloween after all.  Let's do a Masquerade theme Talent show, with the participants masked during their performance- which we'll also have them keep secret.  Can we actually find a way to enforce that?  Not allow them to talk about what they're doing once they've agreed to participate?" she glanced at Flitwick who, after considering it briefly, nodded in agreement.

"It can be done, but we will have to be very specific in how the charm is defined.  It can be a very tricky thing to do."

"Then we will leave that to you to work out Professor Flitwick." McGonagall said.  Turning to Alinora she continued "I think your idea has merit and I certainly don't have a better one.  I suggest we all think on it over night and meet to finalize details tomorrow."

"I think you should also know that this is a test of sorts for you.  You've been doing extra studies with us for over six months and you're more than ready to move onto the next step, but this will prove it.  And this will hopefully peak the interest in the next batch of students."

"I understand.  And, as tests go, I'm really looking forward to it" she smiled.  "I'm looking forward to the next step as well- I have an idea of who might be good prospects when the time is right.  Of course they don't know it yet…"

Professor McGonagall gave a slight smile in return, "Professor Dumbledore said he thought you'd feel that way about this, which is why he wanted you involved.  Now I think it's time for you to head back to the common room.  Based on your proposed theme I trust you won't give away too much information before it's time."

Alinora got up to head for the doors of the Great Hall.

"Oh, Miss Roane…"  Alinora turned back to look at McGonagall.  "Please tell the house that I expect that Madam Hooch will be announcing the date for the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts tomorrow and that it will be within the next two weeks.  That should take over the topic of conversation enough that you won't have to deal with too many additional questions." she said with a smile.

Lying in bed now, thinking back, she was quite glad to have had that information to divert all the questions that had been hurled at her as soon as she'd stepped through the portrait hole and into the common room.  She told them that more details would be out in another day or two then mentioned McGonagall's news about Quidditch tryouts.  That had effectively killed off the talent show conversation and a heated discussion quickly developed concerning who should become the new Gryffindor Keeper and whether it would be a good idea to go ahead and see about getting backup Chasers and Beaters trained since the twins, Angelina, Alicia and Katie would all be graduating at the end of the year.

Alinora had eased out of the center of the discussion and retreated to a shadowy seat to watch her friends.  While familiar with the game- who couldn't be here at Hogwarts?- she didn't play herself and had nothing to offer to the conversation.  So, she observed what was going on for a while, then started taking notes on her ideas for the Masquerade.

After a while, when it appeared that the discussion wasn't going to end any time soon, she announced she was going up to bed, as classes started tomorrow morning, then headed up to the room she shared with The Ladies- her name for Katie, Angelina and Alicia.

While lying in bed she'd come up with a wicked idea for herself and The Ladies for the talent show, if they were willing to go along with it.  Talk about removing masks!  This would definitely show a whole new side to them, one that had been sorely over looked due to their prowess on the Quidditch field…

While the thought was a pleasant one, sleep finally overtook her and Alinora drifted off.


	7. 6 Things Progress

**Chapter 6: Things Progress**

*************

Time passed quickly over the next couple of weeks.  Quidditch tryouts had been held the second week of classes.  Following in the Weasley family tradition Ron had been elected the new team Keeper while Ginny had surprised all by showing up to try out as a reserve Chaser- easily making the team.

Her brothers had been quite proud and she'd finally had to threaten both Fred and George with some unspecified bodily harm to get them to stop their celebratory pranks.

The talent show announcement, while not met with quite as much excitement, had been gathering quite a following too.  Though no one was quite sure what to expect, due to Flitwick's silencing charm on all participants, most agreed that it was bound to be interesting and at least something entirely new to all.

Alinora had convinced the Ladies to participate- they had been quite excited about her idea actually and couldn't wait to see the response it got.  She had also been busy talking to others about their ideas, as well as working with those already signed up for the show and helping them perfect their routines.

Due to all the practicing going on, most of the professors had agreed to allow students into their classrooms when they were not being used.  This added additional problems since it was necessary to track which rooms were being used at any given time and by whom, as well as making sure no one could spy on what was going on in them so the masquerade wouldn't be spoiled.

One of the rules of the contest was that no magic could be used on the audience to influence their opinion of the performance, though most would use magic if only to provide the background music for whatever was going on.  Because of this, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick and Alinora were kept busy keeping up with what would be needed and how it could be provided.

*************

A month had now passed and it was the evening before the first Quidditch match of the year.  The common room in Gryffindor tower was strangely quiet, but, as it was the dinner hour, that was to be expected.

Alinora sat at a table near the fireplace, piles of books and parchment surrounding her as she worked on her latest Potions assignment.  The remains of her dinner lay near by.  She was so deeply involved in her work that she didn't hear the portrait door open.

"You know, you're beginning to take after Hermione with all this skipping meals and staying up late to do homework.  You really need to relax a little!"

Holding up a hand to stop the flow of words, Alinora wrote one last line to finish her paper then laid her quill down with a sigh of relief.  She looked up and smiled tiredly at the familiar red head standing in front of her.

"I hardly think I've resorted to the lengths she goes to for good grades, but I will admit that I sometimes wonder if I've taken on too much."  She grinned up at George and slowly stretched her arms up and tried to release the tight muscles in her back from the knot they'd settled into.

"You need a break.  Some completely mindless fun to take your mind off things for a while.  And I know just the people who can help you…"

"Why do you think I've been missing dinner for the past couple days to get caught up?" she broke in with a smile, "I fully intend to spend most of the weekend relaxing.  Is there anything fun planned for tonight or will you all be going to bed early to be well rested for the match with Ravenclaw tomorrow?"

He paused before answering, wondering why the mischievous smile she was giving him was making his stomach do flip flops.  Or could that be all the treacle tart Fred had dared him to eat at dinner?  Bringing his thoughts back to the present with considerable effort, he remembered her question.  "Probably nothing too exciting- Exploding Snap maybe.  We do have to get a little sleep before the game or Angelina will kill us."  His look of mock terror at what the Quidditch captain would do to them evoked a tired laugh from Alinora.

"Well, since dinner is almost over I guess I should see about getting this all cleared away."  Alinora got up and began gathering up her books and other school supplies.  George grabbed her bag and helped her get everything stowed away.

"Thanks George.  I appreciate the help.  I'm so tired from all the talent show stuff, and all the class work on top of it, that my coordination is a bit shot."  She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, pulling her long braid out from under it and across her shoulder.  She placed a hand on George's arm as she passed him on her way to the stairs up to the girl's dorm, "I guess I'll see you guys a little later on then, okay?"

George felt his ears redden a bit at the touch and hoped that she wouldn't notice.  "Sure- looking forward to it.  You know… Fred and I have been working on some new stuff that we'd like to check out tonight…"

She'd reached the landing but turned back to laugh.  "Feel free to keep trying, but you should know by now that it's not going to work.  I admire your determination though."  She resumed her journey to her room, smiling a little while recalling those red tinged ears- maybe she was **_finally_** getting through to him…

*************

Later that evening Alinora had to admit that she was feeling much improved by having some time off from her studies.  And while she was really enjoying her work on the talent show, all the magic she was constantly doing was taking its toll on her.  This weekend would help a lot with renewing her reserves.

The twins had been in rare form that night- and George had said that nothing too exciting would be happening?!?  While the evening had begun with the promised game of Exploding Snap it had quickly progressed to the twins trying out many of their new jokes and tricks.

Due to this there were a great deal of laughing Gryffindors in the common room with oddly colored skin, hair and clothing.  Results were supposedly guaranteed to be gone by the morning…

Alinora and the twins were among the rare few in the room left unmarked by the color battle that had quickly broken out.  Colin Creevy had contented himself with taking pictures of the whole thing after getting caught by an explosion of reds and oranges lobed by Ginny.  It had originally been aimed at Fred, but he'd deflected it with a swing from a pillow off the couch.  It is hard to catch a beater off his guard.

Alinora and Katie had been laughing so hard their jaws ached.  They'd also decided it was about time to call it quits for the night.

Blocking a purple spray from Lee and sticking her tongue out at him as she went, Alinora made her way over to where Colin was sitting.  He and a few other fourth years had barricaded themselves into a corner and were happily heckling the various participants.

She leaned over and spoke a few words into his ear, nodding toward the fireplace where the battle raged.  She smiled at his grin as he nodded in agreement to her whispered request.  She gave him a quick hug then turned to make her way back to Katie and the two headed up the stairs towards their room.

As they reached the balcony overlooking the common room Alinora stopped.  She turned to look below, whispered a phrase and flicked her fingers twice- once at each of the twins.

Fred and George hadn't noticed that they'd left since they'd been busy beating off an attack by Ron and Harry and were laughing at the results of their defense.  Therefore, the sparkling shower of color that fell on them from above caught them completely unaware.  They looked at each other in shock then turned at the sound of feminine laughter.

As they turned, they were blinded by the flash of Colin's camera, that he'd been warned to have ready, and heard the sound of Alinora's voice floating down to them.  "Sweet dreams boys.  I do hope you're _more_ up to the Quidditch challenge tomorrow…"

With that she and Katie ran up to their room giggling.

The common room erupted into laughter with the twins joining in.

"I do believe…" started George.

"… that we've been had." finished Fred.  "When _will_ we learn??"

"Good question- do try to figure it out soon."  Angelina said dryly, though everyone could tell she was trying hard not to laugh at her boyfriend and his brother.  "I think it's time for the team to be heading to bed."  She paused to consider them, "And I'll be sure to ask Alinora if this can be expected to wear off before the game." she said, finally giving in to her giggles, looking at the confetti of color that now covered the twins from head to toe.

Shaking her head and laughing, she and Alicia went up to join the others and congratulate Alinora on her latest conquest of the twins.

*************

George woke up the next morning to find that he was still rather more colorful than normal and a familiar looking note on the pillow beside his head…

**_Good luck today.  I'll be cheering for you._**

He smiled at the familiar feeling of the hug that accompanied the letter and lay there smiling until Fred came to wake him up for breakfast.


	8. 7 Interlude by the Lake

**Chapter 7: Interlude by the ****Lake**

*************

            The morning was bright and sunny- a rare warm day in early fall.  The area by the lake was fairly deserted since most students were still at breakfast or inside eagerly awaiting the Quidditch match later on that afternoon.

            Alinora was quite happy to have the lake to herself- one of the reasons she was up so early on a Saturday was for that very reason.  She'd grabbed a quick bite to eat before most had awaken, then came outside to enjoy the morning.  She'd been outside for a little over an hour now and was slowly beginning to consider the idea of making her way back to Gryffindor tower to see who else was around.  At the moment though she was quite happy sitting on a rocky outcrop, singing to herself and combing her wet hair while staring dreamily out over the lake.

            She turned at the sound of footsteps and smiled to see Professor McGonagall making her way across the grass towards her.  As she approached Alinora called out to her "Beautiful morning, isn't it Professor?  Pull up a rock and join me!"

            "I believe I will." she responded and pulled out her wand to transfigure a small rock into a comfortable seat near Alinora.  She was happy to see that Alinora was looking so calm and relaxed.  She'd been worried lately that they'd been asking too much of her- thus, the reason for tracking her down this morning.

            "Out communing with our lake's Merpeople are you Miss Roane?" she asked dryly.

            "You know me, Professor- I feel the need to bond with everything…" Alinora laughed in response.  "What can I do for you?"

            "I wanted to see how you've been doing with all the extra work load we've been giving you.  You've been handling a much greater amount of magic since classes started than you're probably use to- much more in fact than we normally require or even allow students to ever work with.  And I've noticed that you've been looking a bit tired in class recently, though I am happy to say that your work doesn't appear to have suffered." She paused in consideration for a moment, "though there was that incident with Professor Snape the other day…"  She gave Alinora a questioning look.

            She laughed.  "The whole Snape thing was simply a misunderstanding.  While I don't expect you to admit it, I do hope you are aware that he has a bit of an… issue with the students of Gryffindor- Not that we haven't deserved at times!- but this really was quite innocent.  I have been a bit tired recently with everything going on and there we were in class preparing our latest concoction and Jason put something into ours that was blatantly wrong… the whole thing made an odd noise and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.  I couldn't help it, I just started laughing and I couldn't stop.  That got Jason started and it snowballed from there.  I don't know if we really deserved to have **_quite_** so many points taken off from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff over it, but" she shrugged, "I couldn't deny it had happened. At least he didn't give us all detention!"  She laughed again.  Professor McGonagall appeared to be trying to hide a smile of her own.  "But otherwise, I really am doing fine.  I'm really enjoying it all, though I'll be quite happy to have some free time to catch up on my sleep come November!"

            "Well, I'm happy to hear you weren't _trying_ to harass Professor Snape, which was his take on the whole situation you realize, and that you're surviving okay so far.  Let one of us know if that changes.  You're doing a wonderful job on the talent show, by the way.  I don't think anyone has any idea of just how… eye opening an experience this will be." 

She got to her feet and changed her seat back to its original form.  "I'll leave you to finish your bonding then. Will we see you later on at the game?"

            Alinora nodded.  "I'll be there.  Have to support Gryffindor's team, don't I?"

            McGonagall gave her a last smile then turned to make her way back up to the school.  Alinora turned to resume her contemplation of the lake's surface.  Reaching into her pocket she removed a small shell and stared at it silently for a while.  Looking back at the water she saw a dark shape approaching from the middle of the lake and she smiled.  She whispered a few words into the shell's opening then tossed it out towards the dark form in the water.  Right before it hit the lake's surface it looked like a hand had reached up and caught it.

            Alinora sighed then got up, performing a quick charm to finish drying her hair.  She quickly braided it up again then turned to wave her hand over her own seat, returning it to the smooth lake shore it had previously been.  Looking back out over the lake one last time, she turned to make her way back up to the castle.

            _I wonder what color the twins are this morning…_ she thought with a wicked grin.


	9. 8 New Developments

**Chapter 8: New Developments?**

*************

            The Quidditch game against Ravenclaw went very well.  Everyone was back to their normal color by that point and Gryffindor won 210 to 40.  The celebratory party lasted well into the night, until McGonagall was forced to come break it up and send them all off to bed.

            The next couple weeks passed smoothly enough.  The seventh years were getting use to all the homework they were being given, in the hopes of preparing them for N.E.W.T.s, though none was all that happy about it.

            Alinora's schedule had returned to its hectic pace with classes, extra studies, homework, talent show preparation and her desperate attempts to get a little time among it all for herself.  She'd gone back to skipping dinners in an attempt to stay caught up.

            George, noticing her absences at meals again, began making it a point to bring her back something from dinner and then sit with her until she'd finished it.  Just to make sure that she'd take the time to do so, is what he told himself, but he was enjoying those brief times of conversation, away from the rest of their classmates.  He was learning more about her, though he still had a feeling that there were things she was holding back.  Not from a lack of trust in him- more from habit he thought.

            She had asked him a lot of questions about his family.  She seemed fascinated by them- all those siblings!  She had none herself though she had 'adopted' Colin the previous year.  He suspected that at the time it had been partially in self defense to keep him from continuously following her around, as he'd had a rather blatant crush on her.  She appeared to have convinced him that it wasn't such a good idea of his and they were now quite close.  Despite her busy schedule she made time each day to spend with him, helping him with his studies or catching up on what was going on in his life.  It hadn't been easy to do though recently.

            George wanted to tell her to relax, to take some time off again, but with the talent show happening in a little over a week he had a feeling she'd just laugh.  She had gone with the group of them to Hogsmeade the previous weekend and he'd been happy to see her relaxing and cutting up with the Ladies (he liked her name for the girls- it seemed to fit them well- and it had been generally adopted by all).  They disappeared for a while to do a little shopping on their own and turned up later to meet them for a Butterbeer, carrying bags labeled with the name of a local dress shop.  When Fred asked them what all they'd bought, they just laughed and turned the conversation to what everyone wanted from Zonko's.

            The day had passed all too quickly and she'd returned to her studies.  Thank goodness the talent show would take place soon- he was looking forward to seeing what had been taking up so much of her time and energy.

            _And_, he thought, glancing over at her- head bent over her books and the firelight glinting off the red in her hair- _I'll be very happy when she has a bit more free time…_


	10. 9 Talent Show

**Chapter 9: Talent Show!**

*************

            Tonight was the night!  In a few hours, the Halloween feast would begin, to be followed by Hogwart's first ever student talent show.  Everyone, except maybe some of the Slytherins, was looking forward to it.  

            While some of the students participating were starting to suffer from a mild case of the nerves, most were simply excited and ready to get things started.  Alinora had spent most of the day, when not forced to be doing something else, making last minute updates to the night's plan of action.

            They'd gotten Dean Thomas, a fifth year from Gryffindor, to design the programs for the show using the Masquerade theme they'd agreed upon.  The programs were later charmed so that they would announce the acts as they came up, but wouldn't reveal anyone's name until the final act was complete and the results were ready to be announced.  Alinora was quite happy to not have had to handle that particular piece of magic- Professor Flitwick had been assigned that detail.

*************

            After dinner ended the students were dismissed for an hour so that the Great Hall could be set up.  Once the room was empty of students, other than Alinora, the staff went to work.  The four large house tables were stacked against the wall and small table and chair groupings appeared to replace them.  The head table, where the staff normally sat, was removed and transfigured into a curtained stage.  Some of the rooms that opened from behind the stage area had been converted into dressing rooms and areas where you could warm up before going on stage.

            The physical transformations weren't the only preparations that needed to be done.  Numerous spells had been devised that would help disguise the various participants while they performed, making it just a little bit more difficult for them to be recognized beneath their masks.  Another spell blanketed the room and was used to keep the audience from paying too much attention to who was or wasn't sitting around them at any given time.

            Other spells would be used during the actual performances to provide things such as background music or lighting, but those details were completely Alinora's responsibility as stage director.  If for some reason she couldn't handle it Professor Flitwick was prepared to take over, but, as things had gone well in the dry run, he wasn't expecting any problems.

            As Flitwick performed the last bits of magic needed to decorate the hall, the students who were performing began to make their way into the back rooms to begin getting ready.

            _It's almost show time…_ Alinora thought as she too made her way backstage to prepare.

*************

The Great Hall was dimly lit as there were only a couple hundred floating candles lit that evening, instead of the normal impressive amounts.  The hall was almost filled with students representing each of the four houses at Hogwarts and staff members, scattered throughout the room, there to enjoy the show.  The stage was dark, curtains drawn and you could hear the whispering voices of the students who were excitedly discussing who and what they were expecting to see- and just when would it be starting anyway?!?

Finally the talking in the audience started to die away as everyone slowly turned to look towards the stage with the feeling that something was about to happen.

As the last voice fell silent a single light illuminated a female figure standing before the curtained stage.  She was dressed in a floor length, emerald green medieval styled gown, low cut in front, slightly off the shoulders with flared, trailing sleeves.  Her long auburn hair was curled into ringlets that were piled on top of her head then cascaded down her back and over her shoulder.  She was holding a green butterfly shaped mask up to her face as she stared calmly out at the crowd, a small smile on her lips, as she waited for the whispering that had started at her appearance to stop.

"_Masquerade!_

_Paper faces on parade…_

_Masquerade!_

_Hide your face_

_So the world will_

_Never find you!_

_Masquerade!_

_Seething shadows,_

_Breathing lies…_

_Masquerade!_

_You can fool_

_Any friend who_

_Ever knew you!_"[1]

As suddenly as she'd begun singing, Alinora stopped.  From behind her mask she smiled mischievously at the crowd in front of her.  She stepped forward slightly, the illuminating light following her, and addressed her intently listening audience.

"Tonight is Halloween; a time of wearing masks and costumes and a time of both tricks and treats.  As tradition demands, we will provide all of these for you tonight, as you are our guests at this Masquerade." Alinora swept a low curtsey to the audience before continuing.

"Music is a form of magic that has the power to touch everyone.  It can transform you more than any spell, if you let it.  Those you see tonight have let music touch them and they will share some of the magic they've learned from it with you.  I hope you will be brave enough to let it transform you as well- let it show you parts of yourself, and of your friends, that you may have never seen.  As you enjoy what's in store, think on this- How well do you really know those around you?  Can you guess who it is behind the masks you see?

"I'm sure there are those among you that, looking at me now, feel certain you know who I am behind the mask I'm wearing.  But maybe you should not be so quick to judge and a bit more willing to wait to see what develops since tonight is a time of music, a time of magic, and many surprising things will be revealed to those willing to accept them."

With that she lowered her mask to reveal yet another fantastically decorated mask that appeared to have been painted directly onto her skin.  Her smile swept over the audience as she sunk into yet another low curtsey before stepping back through the curtains shadowing the stage and disappearing.

The curtains soon opened again to reveal the first masked performer.

  


* * *

[1] Lyrics from **The Phantom of the Opera**, _Masquerade_


	11. 10 Masks

**Chapter 10: Masks**

*************

            There was a pale, blonde girl sitting on a quite ordinary stool as the curtains opened.  She looked a little nervous, but the music started and she began to sing.

_You with the sad eyes_

_don't be discouraged_

_oh I realize_

_it's hard to take courage_

_in a world full of people_

_you can lose sight of it all_

_and the darkness inside you_

_can make you feel so small…_

Her voice strengthened as she continued- becoming even more confident.  She had a pleasant voice that was well suited to her song.

_And I'll see your true colors_

_shining through_

_I see your true colors_

_and that's why I love you_

_so don't be afraid to let them show_

_your true colors_

_true colors are beautiful_

_like a rainbow_[1]

By the end she had become quite enthusiastic and the audience was responding in kind.  They applauded loudly as she bowed, and then the curtains fell.

*************

This time, as the curtains rose, the stage appeared empty.  As the music began, a man stepped out of the shadows and began to dance.  He was soon joined by a woman and together they performed a rather complicated, latin inspired dance routine.  As they twisted and turned their way around the stage, the obvious fun they were having drew in the crowd who began clapping along to the music.

As their song came to an end, the audience saw the woman give her partner a rather cheeky grin, nod slightly to him and step back into the shadows to allow him to take his bows.

*************

The curtain opened this time to reveal a tall, slender, attractive red headed girl perched on a stool.  In her hands, she held what appeared to be a carved wooden flute that, as the audience stilled, she began to play.

Starting out soft and slow, she began to quicken her pace.  Her foot tapped in time with the music and her eyes, behind her mask, were sparkling.

By the time she finished, most of the audience was clapping along with her playing.  Her face was slightly flushed with happiness as she grinned out into the crowd.  She gave them a cocky salute then exited the stage to the sound of applause.

*************

The next several acts included an amazing dance performance by a female student, two different vocal performances by a male and female student and an Indian dance performance by two dark haired females.

*************

There was a slightly longer delay before the next performance started, but not enough to allow the audience to get restless.  As the curtain rose, they could see a shadowy male figure at the back of the stage.  The music started and he walked forward and began to sing.

_Over and over I look in your eyes_

_You are all I desire, you have captured me_

_I want to hold you I want to be close to you_

_I never want to let go…_

He was soon joined by a female, also coming from out of the shadows, though she seemed to retain some of them even in the brightness of the spotlight overhead.

_Over and over I've dreamed of this night_

_Now you're here by my side, you are next to me_

_I want to hold you, to touch you and taste you_

_And make you want no one but me…**[2]**_

Together, they sang a duet.  As the song drew to a close, the woman turned to her partner and he took her hand in his.  She curtseyed to him as he raised her hand to his lips and gave it a light kiss.  Smiling slightly, she backed away into the shadows and he turned back to the audience to take his bow.

*************

Three more acts followed, a female singer, a jazz group and another female singer who quite brought down the house with her version of a popular muggle song from several years back.

*************

The curtains opened on the last performance of the show.  As had happened in the past, the stage was empty, but as the music began the audience saw four figures approaching the spot light.

There were gasps from some in the audience, and a few whistles too, as four attractive females sashayed their way into the light- a blonde, two brunettes and a red head.  They were all dressed in identical low-cut, strapless scarlet dresses with two slits up the sides and high heels.  It wasn't a look often seen at Hogwarts and you could tell by the smirks on their faces that they were enjoying the attention.

As the red head strutted forward and began to sing, the audience quieted down and sat back to enjoy the show.

_Many say that I'm too young_

_to let you know just where I'm coming from, yeah_

_But you will see it's just a matter of time_

_my love will surely make you mine_

**…**

_I'm giving him something he can feel_

_To let him know this love is real_

**_…_**

_So much joy for us it seems_

_So much hope for material things_

_Are they only in my dreams?_

**_…_**

_And that's exactly why I'm singing this song to you_

_To let you know that real dreams do come true_

_You tell me what does it mean.**[3]**_

They took turns, each singing lead for different parts of the song while the others sang back up and performed a rather seductive and loosely choreographed dance.

They ended their performance to thunderous applause.  They stood there, smiling out at the audience and gracefully accepting the appreciation they'd earned.  After a minute or two they gave a slight nod to the crowd, as anything else might be a bit too revealing in the dresses they were wearing, and walked back into the shadows, hips swaying, and arms around each other's waists.

*************

With the curtains down again, Professor McGonagall walked out onto the stage and into the spotlight, effectively cutting off the loud conversations that had immediately broken out.  "I hope you have all enjoyed the… varied assortment of performances you have seen tonight.  I want to thank you all for the comments and scores you have been submitting throughout.  Professor Vector is currently tallying the results and we will soon be ready to announce the final scores.  In the mean time we will have one last performance, which is not part of the talent show, from one of my co-sponsors, Miss Roane."  She gave a quick nod to someone off stage and, with a slightly trepidatious look on her face, she walked off stage again.

Alinora was back out on stage for what felt like the hundredth time that evening.  She was dressed in her normal casual attire of capri's and a t-shirt, with her hair loose around her shoulders.  While looking forward to this performance, she was still a bit nervous about it, as it was the most personal of the ones she'd been involved with so far this evening.

With her back to the watching audience, she quickly knelt down and placed a small stone on the floor and transfigured it into a rocky boulder, such as those found along the coast line.  With her wand, she dimmed the spot light above her head then, putting away her wand; she sat down on the rock and pulled her knees up to her chest.  With her head bowed to her knees, and the music of her song beginning around her, she quietly spoke the charms she'd readied for this performance.

At her words, the area around the stage became over-layed with a slightly transparent view of what appeared to be a coastline.  Waves appeared to be crashing around them with the stage becoming the shoreline- rocks, like the one Alinora was sitting on, protruded from the water.  A breeze, smelling faintly like the sea, began to blow through the room.  As it reached where Alinora was sitting, she raised her head to it and let it blow through her hair.  As it did it her hair grew- it was now waist length and very wavy.  Her eyes were shining very brightly, as if with unshed tears, and her skin had suddenly lost its tan.  She smiled out at the audience, but not as though she saw them.  She was looking at the view she had created, staring as if she hoped to see something among the waves.

Then she began to sing.

_night time falls, raindrops splash rainbows  
perhaps someone you know, could sparkle and shine  
as daydreams slide to colour from shadow  
picture the moonglow, that dazzles my eyes  
and I love you  
. . .  
dream of sights, of sleigh rides in seasons  
where feelings not reasons, can make you decide  
as leaves pour down, splash autumn on gardens  
as colder nights harden, their moonlit delights  
and I love you  
. . .  
 look at me with starry eyes  
push me up to starry skies  
there's stardust in my head  
pure and simple every time  
fresh and deep as oceans new  
shiver at the sight of you  
I'll sing a softer tune  
pure and simple over you...  
. . .  
if love's the truth then look no lies  
and let me swim around your eyes  
I've found a place I'll never leave  
shut my mouth and just believe  
love is the truth I realize  
not a stream of pretty lies  
to use us up and waste our time...**[4]**_

The music ended and she seemed to realize where she was again.  Smiling at everyone, she stood and turned to change her seat back to its original form, placing the stone in her pocket.  Her illusions faded as she walked off stage and the students began to applaud.  McGonagall passed her, patting her shoulder lightly and smiling in a slightly relieved manner, as she joined Flitwick, who was approaching from the other side of the stage.  Together, they addressed the crowd.

"As you might have noticed, had you cared to look, your programs have now updated to show exactly who performed tonight.  We would like to thank all of the students who participated.  They all did wonderful jobs and worked very hard to put this together.  Because of that hard work, they will each be awarded 20 points toward their houses.  This includes Eleanor Branstone of Hufflepuff who unfortunately became ill and Madam Pomfrey would not allow to perform."

McGonagall continued, "As you know, you'd been requested to rate the performances as they went and add comments as well…  The comments have been interesting to say the least and I'm sure they will be very…" she struggled to find the right word, "appreciated by your classmates.  Now, here are the top three scoring acts."

Flitwick stepped forward and pulled out a list from his coat pocket.  "There were two acts that tied for third place.  They are Ginny Weasley of Gryffindor for her performance on the flute and Graham Pritchard of Slytherin for his vocal performance."  Both walked out on stage, Ginny again flashed her cocky grin and saluted the audience.  Flitwick continued, "In second place, we have Sonja Moon of Ravenclaw for her vocal performance."  He paused briefly for her to join them on stage and for the applause to die away again.  "And in first place, we have Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell and Alinora Roane, all of Gryffindor, for their quite… inspiring vocal performance."

There was a brief moment of shock as their names were announced and they walked out on stage, once again in their red dresses.  Then, the audience went wild.  While the applause and cheers were loudest from the Gryffindors, it wasn't limited to them- the Ladies had made quite an impression.

As the applause died down, the rest of the evening's participants made their way out onto the stage, masks off and grinning broadly.  It was an interesting assortment that represented each of the houses and most of the seven years currently at Hogwarts.

"Once again, I would like to say thank you to all who participated tonight and to our Stage Manager, Alinora Roane, for all the hard work that went into making tonight the success it was.  Thank you all for coming.  Now, as it is very late, if you would kindly make your way back to your halls…?"

Slowly, the students began to make their way out of the Great Hall and the staff began to restore it to its former appearance.  The students in the show gathered up their belongings and headed out as well.  Katie had asked Alinora if she should wait for her, but Alinora had smiled and told her to go on- she wouldn't be there too much longer.

Alinora finished her part of the clean up and gathered her belongings, tossing them into her school bag to deal with later when she wasn't quite so tired.  Looking around she spotted Professor McGonagall and headed towards her.

"I think I'll be heading back to the hall if you're done with me here."

McGonagall nodded and smiled at her.  "You did a wonderful job tonight.  We're very proud.  Now, go get some sleep.  You did say that was what you were looking forward to most after this was over, wasn't it?"

Alinora grinned tiredly and slowly turned to head towards the door.  Flitwick stopped her.  "Are you sure you'll make it back okay?  You do look very tired."

"I'll make sure she gets back okay Professors" a voice called from the far end of the room and they turned to see George Weasley making his way towards them.  "I thought she might need a hand."

McGonagall gave him a searching look then smiled slightly.  "That would be very kind of you Mr. Weasley.  I trust that you will both go directly back to the hall and not make any unnecessary stops along the way."  With that, she turned away and walked back towards the teacher's table where Professor Dumbledore was standing.

George took Alinora's bag from her and slung it over his shoulder.  Putting his arm around her shoulder, he turned to lead her out of the hall.  Before going too far though, Alinora stopped and turned back towards where McGonagall was standing talking to Dumbledore.  "Professor McGonagall!" she called.  McGonagall turned and looked at her questioningly.  "So, did I pass?"

McGonagall smiled, "Yes, you did, with flying colors Miss Roane.  Now please, go to bed."

Alinora grinned, then turned back and left the hall with George.

  


* * *

[1] Lyrics from Cyndi Lauper, _True Colors_

[2] Lyrics from Enrique Iglesias & Whitney Houston, _Could I Have This Kiss Forever_

[3] Lyrics from En Vogue, _Giving Him Something He Can Feel_

[4] Lyrics from The Lightning Seeds, _Pure_


	12. 11 After the Show

**Chapter 11: After the Show**

*************

            They left the Great Hall and headed towards the stairs, slowly making their way towards Gryffindor tower.  They didn't speak.  Alinora was simply too tired to make the effort and gratefully leaned in towards George- thankful for his steadying arm around her shoulders as they started up the first set of stairs.

            A couple times, she got the impression that he was about to say something, but he never got to the point of actually getting anything out.  She was content to wait.

            The silence continued as they ascended the next six staircases, which thankfully weren't moving around much that night.  Finally, they got within sight of the portrait entrance to their hall.   Before they reached it though, George pulled her to a halt and she looked up at him questioningly.

            "Um… I… I have a question for you, and I'd prefer to ask it before we went in."

            "Sure, what's it about?"

            "Well… I've been wondering...  I mean… I was hoping you'd…"  His ears were turning pink and Alinora was trying very hard not to smile.

            "George?  What?"

            He took a deep breath, his eyes closing as if to calm himself.  Finally, he opened his eyes and looked down at her.  "I was wondering if you had a date yet for the Yule Ball and if not if you'd be interested in going… with me?"  As he finished, his face went pale and he appeared to be holding his breath while waiting for her response.

            She smiled up at him, with a hint of her normal mischievousness sneaking through the general exhaustion.  "I would be delighted to go with you… but," she teased, "only under the condition that you allow me to teach you a slightly more advanced form of dancing- 'cause Ginny's been telling me stories..."

            In the back of his mind he noted that her eyes were no longer the clear emerald green they'd always been before, but were now more of a smoky blue green shade, but in his relief at her answer he quickly forgot about it and smiled at her.  "If you're willing to try to teach me, I'm willing to learn.  It's your feet at stake!"

            "If I can teach Colin, I can teach anyone.  And I've grown quite adapt at protection spells for things like that.  We'll start the lessons… some other day.  I'm too tired tonight."  She yawned.

            He put his arm back around her shoulder and gently drew her towards the door, a broad grin on his face.  "You sure about that?  You'll be getting your second wind any moment now…"

            "By this time it's more likely my third or fourth, but yes, I'm sure it's coming soon." she said and lightly poked him in the side as they gave the password and entered the common room.

*************

            While most of the Gryffindor's appeared to have gone straight up to bed, the normal group had scattered themselves in chairs around the fireplace to wait for their return.

            As they climbed through the portrait hole, Alinora was being gently escorted by George; Katie caught her eye and winked.  Alinora gave her a quick, small smile in return as she turned to acknowledge a greeting from Colin.

            "I'm tired Ali, but I wanted to say G'night before heading up.  You were amazing tonight Sis." Colin smiled at her and gave her a hug before heading up the stairs to his room.

            Alinora and George made their way to an empty couch and sat down.  Alinora looked around and asked the room at large "So, what did you think?  Weren't they all amazing?!?  I told you you'd do great." she teased, glancing over at Ginny who grinned back at her, tossing her red hair back over her shoulder.

            Alinora noticed that Harry was looking a bit stunned and was sneaking glances at Ginny when he thought she wouldn't notice.  From the smirk on Ginny's face, Alinora had the feeling that she was noticing more than he was aware of.  And that she was enjoying every minute of it.  _About time too_ she thought, _Part one of the grand Yule ball scheme is progressing well…_

            They discussed the various acts of the evening- the surprise of Pansy Parkinson's opening act, the fact that Justin could really sing and the shock that Ali had taught Colin to dance.

            "And did you see the look on McGonagall's face when you got up to sing the last song?" Katie began to laugh, "I thought she was going to have some sort of a break down before the music started…"

            She and Ali looked at each other and immediately started laughing even harder.

            "I think I missed a punch line here somewhere," Lee complained, "What are you two laughing about??"

            Alinora finally controlled her laughter enough to answer, though she was careful not to look at Katie, "I'd originally convinced her that I was actually going to sing a completely different song- that Dumbledore had approved might I add- that she felt was a bit… inappropriate.  But, as Dumbledore had approved, she couldn't tell me I couldn't do it.  Of course, Dumbledore also knew I was just kidding- the man's got an amazing sense of humor." She laughed again and caught a look of dawning comprehension on Ginny's face.

            "You were going to sing that Muggle song weren't you?  The one we were practicing the other night?  Oh, that would've been **hysterical** on stage for the whole school!" and she joined Katie in laughter.

            "Okay, what is this song then?" Fred was sounding a bit put out.

            Alinora had perked up during their conversation and, as George had predicted, gained her second (or third or fourth) wind.  She climbed up onto the back of the couch, reached into a pocket and pulled out what appeared to be the base of a Muggle CD player.  She whispered a few words to it then shot a challenging look at Katie and Ginny.  "We practiced it the other night- you two up to it now?" she waited a couple seconds, grinned, then pressed 'play' and the music started.

**…**

            "Not too shabby" Ali said as the song ended, "I can't imagine why McGonagall had issues with it- quite tame really, unless done right of course.  Too tired to do it justice right now unfortunately." she said grinning at Ron's look of shock and Hermione's blush.  Ginny winked at Harry, who was rapidly turning a rather becoming shade of pink.  Alinora slid back down to sit beside George on the couch and reached over and gently raised his jaw up, closing his mouth.

            "Not too shabby is right, though I think that second verse could've used a little something more…" he murmured in her ear, regaining his normal manner.  He shot her a rather lecherous look.  In response, Alinora turned her back to him and squirmed back until she'd tucked herself up beside him, leaning against his chest.  She could see Ginny and Hermione hiding grins as Angelina quickly distracted Fred from noticing that George had most likely gone quite red again.

            Alinora just smiled and snuggled in closer as she felt George's arm come to rest along her shoulders.

*************

            No one really wanted to call it a night, but after a while most had given up and headed up to their beds.  Katie and Alicia were quietly talking in a corner and Alinora and George were still on the couch, where Ali had fallen asleep curled up against him.

            Katie and Alicia finally decided it was time for bed and turned to see George, awake, staring down at Ali with a rather amazed look on his face.  They smiled at each other and quietly walked over to them.

            "We're heading up- do you want us to help Alinora up to bed?" Alicia whispered.

            George considered this briefly then shook his head, "No, go on up.  I'll carry her up in a little while.  She's so tired and I don't want to wake her if at all possible."

            They nodded and slowly ascended the stairs to the girl's dorm.

            George sat there, quietly, after they left, his hand stroking Alinora's hair and contemplating the girl curled up so trustingly at his side.  She was absolutely fascinating and he couldn't quite understand why it'd taken him so long to notice it.  Last year, she'd been around, but with everything else going on- the Triwizard tournament and the whole mess with Bagman- he hadn't noticed her as much more than an amusing addition to the Ladies and his group of friends.  He hadn't noticed how much he'd enjoyed their almost daily attempts to fool each other with some sort of prank- he still didn't know how he'd so spectacularly not ever succeeded with one against her!  And it was only over the summer, when they'd all been so concerned about her whereabouts that he'd realized just how little he really knew about her and how much he wanted to change that.

            They had become good friends since school had started, but he was still amazed that she'd accepted his invitation to the Ball- _There would be a lot of guys at Hogwarts who'd be upset that they hadn't asked a little sooner…_ he thought, shaking his head.  She looked so young while asleep, for once not sparkling with her normal mischievous energy, but quiet and peaceful.  He smiled and slowly slipped his arms around her and stood up.

            "Okay sleeping beauty, time for you to go to bed."  Carefully, he carried her up the stairs and to the room she shared with Katie, Angelina and Alicia.  Finding her bed, he set her down and bent down to remove her shoes.  He maneuvered the bedcovers out from under her and tucked her in.  She immediately curled over on her side to face him, still asleep.

            Kneeling down beside the bed, he brushed back a few curls that had fallen into her face.  She smiled sleepily and opened her eyes a little bit.

            "G'night George" she murmured sleepily and reached out a hand and gently stroked the side of his face.  Though she'd never done it before, it felt very familiar and it took his tired mind a couple seconds to connect where he'd felt it before.

            "You?!?  You've been sending me all those notes and those…" he gasped, a little louder than he'd planned.

            She smiled again and lazily pressed her fingers against his lips to quiet him before pulling her hand back under the covers.  "Took ya long enough… to figure it out, didn't it?" she teased as her eyes fell closed and she drifted back off to sleep.

            In a daze, George made his way back to his own room and got ready for bed.

            Finally, as he lay in the dark staring up at the curtains above his head, he started to chuckle quietly.

            She'd gotten him yet again.


	13. 12 In the Common Room

**Chapter 12: In the Common Room**

*************

            The next day dawned bright and sunny.  The Gryffindor common room was deserted except for the lone occupant sitting at a table in a secluded corner surrounded by what looked like picture frames.

            Alinora stretched and turned to glance out a nearby window at the blue, cloud-free sky.  She smiled and turned back to the table.  She'd gotten up early, despite the tiring events of the night before, and had already been down for breakfast and a walk out to the lake.  She'd timed her return to coincide with when a majority of the house would be heading down to eat so she would have some undisturbed working time.

            To help enforce that undisturbed part, she'd put up some very basic 'you don't see me' charms that would deter anyone not specifically looking for her.  She'd heard a number of people coming and going in and out of the room since she'd set up, but no one had noticed her yet.

            She picked up the picture frame she'd been working on.  Unlike most wizarding pictures, the person in this image wasn't moving.  The picture in this one showed Ginny from the night before, giving a salute to the audience at the end of her performance.

            "Play" Alinora said to the frame and grinned happily as the image shifted to replay Ginny's performance.  This was a side project she had been working on over the past month and she was hoping to finish these up and give them out to the various performers this evening.  She was done, finally, with most of the normal ones, but she still had a couple waiting to be finished that she was giving to Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick that held the entire show.  And there were a couple others for some… special projects that she had planned.  Those would take a little longer to do.

            She was distracted by the door to the common room opening and hearing Ginny call her name.

            "I'm over here." she answered back, replacing the frame on the table.  She looked up to see Ginny and Katie heading towards her.  They looked rather serious as they took seats across from her.  "What's the matter?  You guys look pretty serious- did something happen during breakfast?"

            "No… we've just been talking about last night and something interesting has come to our attention and we wanted to ask you about it."  Ginny was giving her a rather curious look.

            "Sure, what is it?"

            "It just occurred to us that you didn't appear to be using your wand last night, despite all the magic we all know you were doing, and we wondered how that could be the case."

            "Well, that's pretty simple to answer.  You didn't see me using my wand because I generally wasn't, except towards the end when I got a bit tired."

            "But how could you do that?!?  I've never heard that wandless magic was even possible, and the professors have certainly never mentioned it!"  Ginny sounded vaguely offended by this.

            "How I do it is also pretty simple- I never knew that it wasn't possible and have been doing it most of my life.  Baby magic tends to hit early- no one has a wand at that point- but magic worked for me from that point on and I just went from there.  I didn't get my wand until I was probably ten, but it's not like I wasn't doing magic during that period.

            "Wands are mainly used to help a witch or wizard focus their magical ability.  You find one that resonates with you and it makes casting spells easier- which in the beginning can be a very good thing…"

            "But you didn't learn that way?" Katie broke in.

            "No, my father was a bit of a rebel in that manner and encouraged me to not have to depend on a wand.  He said I was stubborn enough to not need anything to help me focus- that by my not being wanded it 'put the rest of the world on a more equal footing'" she laughed softly.  "Besides, I grew up in a Muggle area where it would've looked very odd for me to be carrying a wand around.  Especially since my father didn't want anyone knowing there was a wizarding family in the area, not even the other wizards."  She smiled at them.

            "Can anyone learn to do it?  Learn to do magic without a wand?" asked Ginny curiously.

            "I'm pretty sure some people can" Ali said smiling slightly.  "At this stage an open mind and the belief that it's possible are the most important part.  Why?  Are you two interested in learning?"

            "Yes." they said in unison then looked at each other and grinned.

            Alinora laughed.  "Well, I have no problem working with you on it.  McGonagall has already given me permission to teach anyone who expresses an interest and shows the ability to learn.  I was waiting to see who would notice what was going on and ask about it.  Shall we start this evening?"

            "Sounds good to me."

            "I have no problem with that."

            "Good, we'll do that then.  So, now that we have that out of the way, what're the plans for today?" she asked mischievously.

            "Angelina has reserved the Quidditch pitch for the house so we can have a massive pick-up game.  Wanna come watch?"  Katie grinned wickedly at Alinora, knowing her aversion to spending much time on a broom.

            Ali stuck her tongue out at her and laughed.  "Watch, sure, but not until I finish up with these" she said, waving her hand at the piles in front of her.

            "Hey, is one of these the one that's going to…" Katie broke off, staring at Alinora.

            "Yes." she replied.

            "Yes, you can definitely take your time then and get these done before coming out." Katie said eagerly.  Alinora laughed and Ginny looked confused.

            "Obviously, I have no idea what you two are talking about so I'll just go grab our brooms.  Okay Katie?"  At Katie's nod, Ginny quickly ran up the steps.  She was down almost immediately and the two headed back out of the common room and down toward the Quidditch field.

            "You can stop lurking on the stairs now George.  You're lucky Ginny didn't see you when she went up…" Alinora called out towards the balcony over-look from the boy's stairwell.

            "You knew I was there?" George questioned as he descended the staircase with a couple brooms over his shoulder.

            "Not immediately, but I did hear you eventually.  So, interested in signing up for lessons too?"  She smiled at him.

            "I am curious about it.  Mind taking on another student?"

            "Not at all.  Challenges are good for you.  Besides, if you learn, and Ginny and Katie, then it'll get the rest interested and believing.  I'd like you all to have a basic understanding of how to do it- wizards are way too vulnerable if they're disarmed and with situations being what they are now that's a very dangerous thing."  She gazed off into the distance briefly, a very sad look on her face.  Shaking herself out of it, she looked back at George and smiled.  "Might give you a better chance with all those pranks of yours- I hate feeling like I have too big of an advantage…"  She laughed as he took a mock swipe at her.

            "Fine, I'll take all the help I can get." he grinned, "So I'll see you down at the field a little later?"  At her nod, he smiled again and headed for the door.  "I'll grab one of the school brooms for you since I know how much you'll be wanting to join us once you're done…"

            He laughed and quickly ducked through the door, barely managing to miss getting hit by the balled up parchment she had thrown at him.  As the door swung shut, he could hear her laughing.

            Turning back to the frames, Alinora quickly put together a couple of full length ones.  Then, she made one that focused on all of her performances of the previous evening.  The end of school was coming up soon and she wanted to be prepared.  While the war with Voldemort might mean that she couldn't follow her plans immediately, she refused to give up her dreams of performing completely and it was always good to have examples of your work.

When that one was done, she turned to the final one on her list.  This was another specifically focused one, but on Katie this time.  Earlier in the year, the group of them had decided that this year they would all have their dates of choice for the Yule Ball.  Alinora had finally managed to convince George to ask her before she had given up and asked him herself- she'd already had to turn down five offers from very nice guys who's main problem had been that they were not George Weasley.  The Ginny/Harry issue appeared to be progressing nicely too.  They'd placed bets on how much prodding it would take before Ron got around to asking Hermione, but maybe if Harry asked Ginny it would prompt Ron to get his butt in gear as well.  But Katie's date could pose a bit of a problem, as he was no longer at Hogwarts.  And he had never appeared to notice she was a girl.  Thus, their need for the clips of last night's performance.  They were hoping this would spark his interest enough to make getting him to the ball a bit more possible.

Finally finished with her self-imposed jobs for the day, Alinora gathered up the frames, all carefully labeled, so she could deliver them to the correct person at dinner.  After taking them up to her room, she took the last one with her as she left Gryffindor tower on her way out to the Quidditch field.  She made a quick side trip up to the owlry to send the frame.  That taken care of, she hurried back down the steps while an accommodating Barn Owl flew off to deliver her package to **_Oliver Wood, Puddlemere United_**.


	14. 13 A Letter Home: November

**Chapter 13: A Letter Home**

*************

            November 5th

            Hi Mom!  I'm back to provide you with an amusing glimpse into the exciting life of a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!  Or, barring that, to at least tell you how the talent show went and what else has been happening.  You can judge the excitement levels for yourself.

            First off though, the talent show.  It was amazing!  Things went very well.  You can tell that everyone had put a lot of work into getting ready for it.  I was exhausted afterwards, but it was well worth it!  I'll give you the run down of who and what went on and you can watch it all later as I've enclosed one of the recordings that we made of the show.

            Pansy (Slytherin) started things off by singing _True Colors_.  She looked about ready to faint when she first got out on stage, but she held in there and started singing and finished strong.  I was quite proud of her.

            Next, Colin and I (Gryffindor) danced to _Bailamos_.  That was a blast!  I haven't been able to dance like that in way too long- I'm not counting lessons, since that's more like work.  We did mess up a little, but we were able to ad-lib it and I don't think anyone noticed anything.

            Then, Ginny (Gryffindor) played a really amazing song on the flute.  She pretty much brought down the house and she tied for third place!!!  I really think she's coming into her own finally and becoming someone other than the little sister of Ron and the twins.  I've been spending a lot of time with her because of all this and I really like her.  

            Lavender (Gryffindor) followed with a dance routine.  She's obviously been taking dance and gymnastics for quite a while or maybe she's just naturally talented.  Which ever it was, it was impressive- shows us a whole new side to someone who always seemed a bit superficial to me.  Must re-evaluate that impression now…

            Graham (Slytherin) sang next- _The Shape of My Heart_.  For someone so young, he's got a great voice.  He tied with Gin for third place.

            Nicki, a friend of Ginny's from Ravenclaw, sang _You Should Hear How She Talks About You_.  Ginny and I sang back up for her from the wings- poor Nicki spent most of the time trying not to laugh at us back stage.  The rest of the time, I think she was glaring out at Harry, who still hasn't noticed Ginny's existence.  I don't know if the glaring was at all successful, but she sang well.

            Padma (Ravenclaw) and Parvati (Gryffindor) Patil did an Indian dance.  As they appear to be from India, or at least maybe their parents were, it was appropriate and added a nice change from the other acts we'd seen.  Rather calming actually.

            Justin and Eleanor (Hufflepuff) were supposed to be singing next, but Eleanor had to drop out at the last minute due to illness.  Justin agreed to let me sing her part so he could continue to perform.  He's very talented, though I hate that everyone missed hearing him with Eleanor as the two of them together are… I can't even describe how wonderful they sound!  Quite a loss for the show, though luckily I made a recording from the dress rehearsal of the two of them.

            Then, Jillian (Hufflepuff) sang _Most Girls_.  Remind me to explain the stereotypes associated with the various houses here at some point.  It's amusing to know the stereotype and then see some of the choices the various students made when picking things to perform- this was one of those amusing contrasts, but she did it well!

            We had a jazz group that was made up of students from each of the houses.  Once they got over the whole 'you are not in my house and therefore can not be trusted' thing, they worked well together.  Thought I might have to kill them though up until that point.  Let it be known that you should not irritate the stressed out stage manager boys and girls!  She is likely to do something quite violent! *insert evil grin and maniacal laughter here* Oh, did I say that out loud?  Oops.

            Anyway, on to the next performer- Sonja (Ravenclaw).  She took second place with her performance of _Material Girl_.  She deserved it.  She's almost as much of a ham on stage as I am, and it worked!

            The Ladies and I closed out the show with _Giving Him Something He Can Feel_.  Nervous yet?  Wait until you see the performance!  I'm sure, once you do, you'll see how we won first place… and why the Gryffindor Ladies have suddenly become so popular!  It was most amusing to watch the jaws drop as we sashayed our way out in those dresses, and even more fun to see them do it again when it was announced who had been performing!

            Whew!  I'm almost too tired to go on after all that!  But persevere I will- worry not Mother Dear!  Ready to hear the rest of my news?  Good, because I'm about to **tell** **all**… or at least the parts safe for your ears.

            George has finally asked me to the Yule Ball.  I was beginning to think I was going to have to use (rather un-ladylike) force to get him to say the words.  There's only so many invites a girl can turn down you know.  I was about ready to give up and ask Dumbledore… who would be a most amusing date I'm sure, or at least more amusing than some of the other Professors (like a certain Potions teacher I could mention).  So, do you think Dumbledore can dance?

            Anyway, George did ask me after the show (I blame the red dress- **Thank You Red Dress!**) and I accepted.  I told him that he had to learn to dance though- Ginny swears she doesn't know how she's still able to walk after having her brothers trample her feet while practicing all those years.  He agreed.  Bwhahahahaha.  Ooops, sorry 'bout that.

            Also due to the show, I now have four magic students.  Fred, George, Ginny and Katie have asked to learn wandless magic.  We've just started, so they haven't gotten too far yet, but they're keeping an open mind which can be the most important part.  I keep feeling that they'll need to know this, but I can't figure out why.  Damn the family Gift which gives me Sight, but in such a useless way!  If Trelawny (the Divination Professor) weren't completely nutters, I'd be tempted to ask her about all this; but having heard about her from Ron & Harry, I plan to stay as far away from her as possible.  I'll just continue to complain to Dumbledore during our afternoon tea get togethers and he'll just peer kindly over those glasses of his and tell me that he's sure I'll understand things when it's time.  If I didn't like the man, I think I'd have had to hurt him by now- who really can live with someone like that who really does seem to know everything?!?  Incredibly frustrating!

            Humm… what other news to pass along?  I've started looking for Christmas gifts.  I know it's a bit early- so what?  Got any ideas for what to get the Ladies?  Also, once the whole dates for the dance thing gets resolved, hopefully without major bloodshed (on the guys' parts); we're planning on doing some serious dress shopping.  Good thing I know how to sew fancy stuff since Ginny's already moaning about how she can't afford to get anything new (which I understand- why else did you teach me to sew in the first place?).  I told her we'd go looking for ideas, material and we'd make her one by hand if necessary.  Which I think sounds like fun, but I'm just weird like that I guess.

            Well, I'd better close this off for now.  Potions homework is calling (and it sounds as nasty as it ever does!) and I need to get this to Dumbledore to send out.  Don't forget to watch the recording of the show and tell me what you think.  Use your judgment about whether to show Grandmother- you can never tell what's going to morally offend her…  Humm, maybe you should show it to her either way- I won't be back to visit for **months**!  Ha!

            Until later then.  All my love!

            Alinora


	15. 14 The Great Date Plan

**Chapter 14: The Great Date Plan**

*************

            Alinora immediately began to train Katie, Ginny and George.  She was amused when, not even a week after they'd begun, Fred hunted her down after class to demand that he be included too.  Alinora didn't ask how he'd known what was going on, but he joined them that evening.

            She wasn't sure if she was happy or disappointed that none of the others seemed interested in what was going on, or even to know that something **_was_** going on.  She had a feeling that this could be an important skill, but the idea of taking on more than the four pupils she had made her tired just thinking about it.  She was working with Professor Flitwick on a new idea for defensive charms and she couldn't really afford many more drains on her free time.  She decided it would be best not to push matters at this point and leave things as they stood.

*************

            As it approached the end of November, the Ladies turned their attention back to the subject of the Yule Ball.  With only a month to go, only Alinora, Angelina and Katie had finalized their dates.  Katie had gotten a letter from Oliver Wood shortly after the talent show and over the course of their correspondence they'd agreed to go to the dance together.

            Alicia was expecting an invite from Lee, but he hadn't quite gotten around to it.  Neither had Harry and Ron, and Ginny and Hermione were beginning to lose their remaining patience with them.  In order to prevent what could turn out to be a bloody mess, the Ladies had decided on a plan to jump start the process.

            They put it into action one afternoon when Harry and Ron were alone in the common room working on their Divination homework.  Angelina had warned Hermione and Ginny that they should make themselves scarce, so they were currently hiding out in Hermione's room.

            The Ladies came in and settled in chairs near the fireplace, not too close to the guys, but close enough for them to 'overhear' their conversation.

            Katie sighed.  "I'm so glad the weekend's almost here!  We get to go to Hogsmeade on Saturday, right?  I really need to look for a dress for the Yule Ball.  Have you decided what you'll be wearing Ali?"

            "I think George would like me to wear that red dress from Halloween, but I keep telling him that it's not going to happen!"  She laughed.  "But dress shopping would be good- I told Ginny awhile back that we could go look over the next Hogsmeade visit.  In fact, Hermione even expressed an interest in joining us." she added with a bit of shocked amusement.

            "Have they got dates yet?" Alicia broke in.  "I heard rumors that one of the Ravenclaw sixth years wants to ask Hermione, but had figured that she'd be going with someone from Gryffindor.  Since she's free, I'm thinking that he'll be asking soon."

            "Yeah, Ginny's got a bit of a following too, especially since the talent show.  So far none of them have gotten up the nerve to mention it, but the topic's been coming up a bit more frequently; so it's only a matter of time." Ali told them.  "So, Angelina, Fred did eventually get around to making it official, right?"

            "I think he's just been assuming you would be going together, and forgot he'd never gotten around to asking." Katie said grinning.

            "He finally asked a couple days ago when I blatantly told him that if I didn't get an invite soon I'd be finding my own date to the ball.  I think it surprised him, but he did apologize quite nicely and then ask me if I'd be interested in going to the ball with him." She yawned dramatically.  "I told him that I'd think about it…"

            They all laughed.

            "No, really, I said yes so we're all settled.  Has Lee gotten around to asking you yet Alicia?"

            "No, and if I don't hear something **soon** I'm asking that cute Chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.  I hear he doesn't have a date yet…"

            "He's pretty nice too.  It'll be Lee's loss- should've been a bit more on the ball.  It's not like we haven't known about this since September."  Ali shrugged and glanced at her watch.  "Whoops, don't you guys have a meeting with McGonagall before dinner?  You better run.  I have some stuff to take care of, but I'll see you at dinner, okay?" she asked as they nodded and slowly got up to head off again.

            Alinora glanced at Harry and Ron as she headed up the stairs.  They were pointedly not paying them any attention, but they didn't appear to be paying their homework any attention either.  As she reached the landing where the steps split to the girl's dorm, she found George sitting on the steps, waiting.

            "Don't you think just beating them over the head until they issue the proper invitations would make this oh so much easier?"

            "Do you make it a habit of lurking in stairwells listening to other people's conversations?" Ali teased, "And beating them over the head is the next step- we wanted to try subtlety first and see how it goes."

            "Should I warn Lee that he better be asking Alicia to the dance soon if he values his life?"

            Ali smiled and didn't answer.

            "Humm.  Well, I guess I should just be happy that I asked quickly and saved myself being hurt."

            "Yep!  'Cause me being blatant can be really scary.  Subtle is definitely more my style."  She leaned close and tapped him on the nose.  "See you at dinner, when part two goes into effect!"  She gave a wicked laugh, and then turned to head up to Hermione's room to give the girls an update.

*************

            The Ladies had claimed an area of the table to themselves at dinner, excluding the guys.  They were acting fairly normal, but George knew they were up to something.  It was simply a matter of when their plan went into effect.

            Towards the end of dinner, when students had begun leaving, it started.  From the Ravenclaw table came a couple of fifth and sixth year boys to say something to the group.  George could see Hermione laughing up at one and noticed that Ron's face was turning red.  A couple guys had joined them from Hufflepuff now too- one coming up behind Ginny and putting his hands on her shoulders to lean over and whisper something in her ear.  Alinora, who was sitting beside her, laughed and pushed him back while Ginny grinned and said something back to him.

            This continued for another couple minutes before the Ladies got up to leave the Great Hall.  As they were walking past the Ravenclaw table, Alicia stopped to talk briefly with a couple guys seated there, before catching up again.

            George watched them leave the Hall, with their group of followers, and then turned back to the Gryffindor table, hiding an amused smile.  There were quite a few open mouths and looks of shocked surprise.  He thought he heard someone from down the table asking if he'd "just seen Hermione Granger flirting with Peter Waters from Ravenclaw?!?"

            "Maybe they're going to the ball together?" Lavender suggested tentatively.

            "Well, so far he doesn't have a date, at least according to Padma." Parvati informed them.

            George smiled openly this time and settled back to finish dinner and watch Ron seethe and Harry push his dinner around his plate until they all gave up and headed back to the tower.

*************

            Lee, perhaps warned by George, was quick to make sure that Alicia would be going to the ball with him.  Ron and Harry weren't quite as prompt and had to sit through a similar performance the next day at lunch.  Sometime that afternoon, on the way to Quidditch practice, Harry finally spoke to Ginny.  Ron held out until Saturday morning, right before the girls were heading down to breakfast.

            George pulled Alinora to the side as they were all leaving the Great Hall after eating.  "Any more surprises coming or has the show ended for now?"

            Alinora cocked her head to the side and considered him for a moment.  "Yes, the festivities are over for now.  No need to give anyone a heart attack before the big night.  The plans for the day are simply to find something scandalous for us all to wear to the ball."  She smiled innocently at his shocked look.  "Really George, you need to lighten up!  There's plenty of time to be serious later on and we all need to enjoy ourselves while we have the time."  Her expression went grave for a moment before she shook it off and smiled at him.

            Taking his arm, she began walking towards the hall.  "Come on, I need to get my cloak and I'm sure Fred is wondering where you've wandered off to now…"

            Later, when they'd reached Hogsmeade and were preparing to split up for a couple hours, Ali could hear George muttering to himself as he glanced at Ginny.  The only word she caught was '_scandalous_'.  She laughed, catching Katie's attention.  Shaking her head at George, and giving him an evil grin, she took Ginny by one arm and Katie by the other, marching them off towards the dress shop.  They had a lot of work to do.

            George stared worriedly after them for a while before absentmindedly putting his hand into the pocket of his cloak.  Finding something within, he pulled it out and glanced at the piece of parchment.  Suddenly, he laughed.  Putting it back in his pocket, he turned and placed an arm around both Ron and Harry and led them off towards Zonko's.  "Come on.  I am willing to admit that I don't understand women- and I **_especially_** don't understand **those** women," he said, nodding his head in the direction the Ladies had gone, "but after seeing them in action, I am quite happy that they're on our side."

            And he smiled again, thinking of the note in his pocket:

            **_Trust me!_**


	16. 15 End of Term

**Chapter 15: End of Term**

*************

            The month leading up to the end of term, and the Yule Ball, passed quickly.  Katie, Ginny and the twins were progressing well with wandless magic and Alinora was happy to report their progress to McGonagall and Dumbledore.

*************

            The last day of term was a cold, gloomy day.  It had begun snowing the night before.  There was an undercurrent of excitement though, despite the prospect of a long day of classes.  To celebrate the end of term, the twins had charmed all the salt shakers to sing the school song.  This wouldn't have been too bad, except that they were all singing it in different styles and all were vastly out of tune.

            Alinora had smiled weakly at Ginny when she and Katie had sat down across from her at breakfast.  Though she'd supposedly gone to bed early the night before, Ginny couldn't imagine that she'd gotten much in the way of sleep, based on the dark circles under her eyes.  Her skin was even paler than normal and her eyes had gone a pale, icy blue.

            Alinora sat at the table, picking at her breakfast, though successfully eating very little.  She'd gotten hardly any sleep the night before and what she had gotten had been full of nightmares about her family.  Her goal was to simply make it through the day, doing as little damage as possible, and hope things improved tomorrow.  Her resolve was being sorely tested though by the discordant singing that rang through the hall.  She could feel her muscles tensing and her hands kept clenching into fists.

            Finally, feeling quite desperate, she reached out to the nearest salt shaker and focused on trying to get just one to make something that sounded vaguely like music.  With her eyes clenched tightly shut, she began to sing along under her breath, focusing on the thought that she wanted it to sing with her.

            After a little while, she felt a hand touch hers and recognized Ginny's presence.  Right afterwards another, Katie's, joined too.  At that point, with the three of them merged, Ali felt her stomach do a flip flop and suddenly all the salt shakers, not just the one she'd been focusing on, were singing together and in three-part harmony- in her, Katie and Ginny's voices.

            Alinora jerked her hand back in shock and glanced quickly at the other two.  They looked as amazed as she felt.

            "What…" Ginny began.

            "I… I've got to go." Ali said quickly, grabbing for her bag and standing up.  "I'll see you all in class- later."  Her eyes were frightened as she hurriedly walked out of the hall, leaving them all to stare after her in confusion.

            Alinora was very quiet during morning classes as she pondered what had happened at breakfast and tried to ignore the remains of her nightmares.  While not paying much attention to what was going on in class, she still managed to answer any question posed to her directly.  During Transfiguration, Katie thought for a moment that Professor McGonagall was going to give Ali a lecture about paying better attention in class, but the fact that she was one of the few successfully able to transfigure her desk into a small pig left her little support for the accusation.  That and the lost and scared look in her eyes that was so different from her normal mischievous expression.

            Alinora made an effort to act normal at lunch, while putting off any questions about what had happened that morning or how she was doing.  She could see that her friends were concerned, but she couldn't explain yet what the problem was and was afraid that if she tried she'd lose what little control she currently had over her emotions.  The thought of that loss of control scared her- a witch or wizard out of control could do a lot of damage.

            Knowing that their next class was potions with Professor Snape did help though- he wasn't as forgiving as her other teachers and could be counted on to take off points for any imagined lack of attention or misbehavior in his class.

            Despite her concerns, Potions passed fairly painlessly, or as painlessly as it ever was.  Her classmates had joined together in an effort to draw Snape's attention away from her.  Somehow they did this without anyone getting assigned detention or Snape saying anything too scathing.

            Alinora was feeling quite relieved as they left Potions.  They only had double Charms left before the day, and term, would be over.  As they walked towards the stairs out of the dungeons, Alinora suddenly realized that she'd forgotten to give Snape some notes that he had agreed to look over for her.

            "Bloody hell!" she swore, a bit louder than planned, which effectively killed off all conversation around her.  She grimaced apologetically.  "Oops, sorry.  I gotta go back- I had something to give Snape that I completely forgot about.  I'll meet you in Charms!" and she ran off back down the corridor.

            A few minutes later, she was once again leaving the Potions classroom.  She passed the waiting fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin students waiting to get in.  She waved at Harry, Ron and Hermione, before hurrying towards the stairs.

            She was so intent on getting to class on time that she wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings and her guard was down.  Because of that, she didn't see the hands that reached out for her from behind a tapestry to her left, but she certainly felt the glancing blow to her jaw…


	17. 16 Explanations

**Chapter 16: Explanations**

*************

            Charms class had ended with no sign of Alinora.  Her friends were getting very concerned and hurried back to the common room, hoping to find that she'd simply gone back to get some sleep.  When Katie had rejoined them, after running upstairs to check their room, to say that she wasn't anywhere in the girl's dorm they got _really_ worried.  They were about to go search the halls when Hermione, Ron and Harry burst through the portrait hole.

            "Have you heard?!?" Hermione exclaimed, gasping for breath, "Goyle attacked Ali this afternoon down in the dungeons!"

            Fred quickly grabbed hold of George, who looked ready to find Goyle and do some attacking of his own.

            "What happened?  Do you know where she is?  Is she okay?!?" Katie asked worriedly.

            Hermione took a deep, steadying breath and continued.  "Padma was in Transfiguration this afternoon when Ali came to the door of the room, about half way through class.  Padma said that her hair was down around her face and she looked... on edge, like she might break if pressed too much.  McGonagall hadn't been too pleased with the interruption, but had walked back to the door to talk to her.  Padma was sitting near them and was able to hear most of what they said.  Basically, it seems Goyle grabbed her as she was leaving the dungeons after class- she didn't know why.  Padma seems to think he'd taken her wand since Ali hit him, or something, to knock him out so she could get away.  She'd just been up to talk to Madam Pomfrey about where she'd left Goyle and had wanted McGonagall to be aware of what had happened too, before hearing about it from someone else.  McGonagall supposedly looked really shocked and, after asking how she was doing and whether she should go back up to the hospital wing, Ali broke in and said she had to get away for a little while and she'd check back with Madam Pomfrey again later.  Then she walked off and McGonagall resumed class, though she seemed a bit distracted."  Hermione stopped to take another deep breath.  "Has she come back here?  Is she okay?"

            But George didn't stay to hear who answered Hermione's questions, he'd heard enough.  He ran upstairs to grab his cloak and scarf before heading out of the common room and down towards the entrance to the school.  He had a feeling that he knew exactly where she'd be.

*************

            It was already getting dark out, but he headed out into the falling snow, towards the lake.  After a couple minutes walk, he saw a small figure sitting on a rock ahead of him and could hear the sound of singing.  As he approached, he could tell she'd heard him.  She stopped singing and turned her head in the darkness towards him.

            "It's safe to come closer- I promise not to hit you or anything…" she said, chuckling weakly.

            He crossed the last couple of feet to the rock, sat down beside her and enclosed her within his cloak- wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

            She sat there stiffly for a moment before he felt her relax as the barrier around her emotions broke.  She wrapped her arms around his waist before burying her face in his chest and bursting into tears.

            They sat there for quite a while in silence, except for the sound of Alinora's sobs.  George was glad to notice that she'd remembered to put a warming charm on the rock- since he had no idea how long she been out there in the snow and he didn't think freezing to death would greatly improve situations.

            Finally, her crying slowed and she pulled back to wipe her eyes and dry her running nose.

            "Feeling better?  Well, other than the headache, itchy eyes and running nose?" he teased gently.

            Alinora smiled weakly, though she knew George couldn't see it in the dark.  "Yes, I'm actually feeling much better… except the whole aching head thing."

            "You up to telling me what all's been going on today?  You've been looking ready to have a breakdown all day and now we've heard from Hermione that Goyle **_attacked_** you this afternoon?!?"  George could feel himself tensing up in anger again at that and forced himself to relax.

            "Yeah, it's been a ruddy awful day all around." she sighed in response, sounding very tired.  She paused for a moment, trying to decide how to explain.  "I don't know if I've ever explained why I didn't come to Hogwarts when I was eleven or why I transferred in suddenly mid-year last year.  My father had a rather dangerous job, where it was decided early on that it would be best if the wizarding world wasn't… aware that he had a family, let alone a witch for a daughter.  I took my mother's name, which is actually common in her family, and Dumbledore helped him hide the fact that I was talented.  So, I never got my invitation to Hogwarts- I was taught at home by my father and other friends of his.

"A couple years ago, a number of people my father worked with started dying, under what could only be called mysterious circumstances, and he arranged, at that point, to have me come here if anything happened to him."  She stopped to take a steadying breath, and then continued.  "About a year ago, my father had been gone on another of his _research_ trips when I started feeling a bit worried about him.  He was due to come back that day- he'd promised to be back before Christmas- and I decided to go to his office in town to wait for him.  I got there… and I found him.  He was dead and appeared to have been tortured."

            This time, she stopped completely for a few minutes.  Finally, pulling herself together, she continued.  "Friends of ours, who knew us and our situation, took care of the arrangements for him and gave explanations to the Muggles in town, who were very upset about the situation.  I spent most of my time helping my mom.  She was devastated.  Finally, my god parents came for me and she left to go stay with her family.  I hadn't had a chance to come to terms with what had happened and I hadn't realized just how much I'd bottled up- dealing with his death, my mom leaving, coming here and getting use to a new life- until last night.  When it finally sunk in yesterday evening what today was, the one year anniversary of what was basically the destruction of my family, those emotions I'd closed off started breaking out again.  I had nightmares all night and I've been on edge all day trying not to give into them, but still deal with them.  I thought… I **knew** I needed to grieve, but I hadn't given myself permission to do so and it was tearing me up and playing havoc with my control."  She reached up to push her hair out of her face and winced.

            "And then to top off the absolute day from Hell, that prat Goyle had to go and attack me.  I can't figure out why, or what he hoped to accomplish with that effort in stupidity.  Maybe I should've asked before I punched him…" she murmured consideringly.

            "You really knocked out Goyle?  With your fist?  No magic at all?  The guy's twice your size, if not three times it!"  Alinora could hear the amazement in his voice.

            Yes George, I knocked him out with my fist.  Keep that in mind the next time you and Fred decide to charm objects to sing badly when your girlfriend's having a bad day!"  At George's sudden intake of breath, Ali realized what she'd said and started to draw back; but George wouldn't let her.

            "I will definitely keep that in mind for the future, since I absolutely don't want to _unintentionally_ anger my _girlfriend_." he murmured to her.

            She relaxed back against him.  Though they'd been spending most of their free time together all year and were going to the Ball together, the topic of whether they were officially 'dating' had never been addressed.  The only reason she had let it slip out now was because her guard was down due to the emotional roller coaster she'd been on all day.  Ali realized that she was grinning rather foolishly and was very glad that it was too dark for George to see.

            "So… you're okay with the whole 'dating' thing?  Everyone seems to have been assuming it was the case, but…" she broke off.

            George laughed and pulled her up onto his lap, rearranging the cloak to account for it.  "I am quite happy to make it official- or maybe just finally official for us, as we seem to be the slow ones here.  And this way I don't have to worry about Angelina coming after me with Fred's beater club, because I wasn't getting around to things quickly enough."

            Alinora smiled.  Reaching up with both hands, she gently drew his head down towards her and kissed him.  While it started off innocently enough, he'd soon pulled her even closer and she'd slid her arms up and around his neck to subconsciously keep him from pulling away.  Eventually though they both pulled back to take a breath and the kiss ended.

            Ali could feel how flushed her face was and wished she could more clearly see George's expression in the moonlight.  That had progressed a bit quicker than expected for a first kiss, but she didn't feel much like complaining about it.

            "I… it's probably about time to be heading in for dinner." George said tentatively.

            "Yes, you're probably right." she reluctantly agreed.  "And I'm done exploding things for a while, so it should be safe to go back in…"

            "You… what?  Exploding things?" George sputtered.

            At that Alinora started laughing, for the first time that day.  Climbing off George's lap and down from the rock, she leaned over and scooped up a handful of snow to make a snow ball.  When she finished she whispered a charm that caused it to glow pink.

            "I found that it makes it easier to see them- and it looks cool." she explained as she tossed it out over the lake.  Quickly pulling her wand, she pointed it at the glowing orb and said "_Annihilaramos_."  The snow ball exploded into a falling shimmer that resembled fireworks.

            "I've improved over the afternoon- I wasn't hitting them nearly as well earlier, but it was lighter and I wasn't thinking as clearly.  I have had to start using the wand though- finally getting too tired not to." she stated matter-of-factly before putting away her wand and turning back to where George was sitting open-mouthed.

            "Ready to go in?" was all he said.

            George got up to join her, enabling Alinora to end the warming spell and shrink her rock back to it's normal size before placing it in her pocket.  Then, they turned and walked back towards the school.


	18. 17 Repercussions

**Chapter 17: Repercussions**

*************

            As they entered the school, they could see that everyone had already started dinner.  George immediately started for the door, but Alinora held back.

            "Wait a minute George.  I'm not quite ready."  Alinora pushed her cloak back, over her shoulders, and her hair had fallen forward again to obscure her face.  She carefully rolled up the sleeves on her robes and George was horrified to see the bruises on each arm, just above her wrists.  Reaching back, she pulled her hair up into a twist and fastening it, turned to face him head on for the first time since they'd entered.

            George gasped.  The lower left side of Ali's face was a massive blue black bruise.  He didn't realize he'd unconsciously turned to go hunt down Goyle for this until he felt Alinora grab his arm.

            "George- let it go.  I'm fine and hopefully he's got a nice one of his own." She laughed softly.  He cautiously reached out a hand to touch her face, but withdrew it quickly when she winced.  "I'd planned to let it heal on its own, but now I'm thinking I'll let Madam Pomfrey heal it tomorrow.  This is likely to clash with whatever I wear to the ball." she remarked sarcastically.

            "Okay, now I'm ready to go in."

            George took her by the hand and together they entered the Great Hall.

            As their fellow classmates caught sight of Alinora, conversations came to a halt.  Whispers followed them as they walked towards the spot where Fred, Angelina, Katie and the rest were sitting, with equally angry and horrified expressions on their faces.

            Before they could reach them though, Alinora noticed Professor Dumbledore beckoning them up to the teacher's table.

            "Miss Roane, I'm glad to see you've returned.  Are you feeling better now?" Dumbledore asked, a look of concern replacing his normally cheerful expression.

            "Yes, Professor, I'm feeling much better.  This has certainly not been one of my better days though."

            "We have discussed the situation" McGonagall began, gesturing to her fellow heads of house as well as Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, "and we have agreed on _additional_ punishments for Mr. Goyle."  Alinora was slightly amused at her emphasis on 'additional', but quickly turned her attention back to what was being said.

            "There is no precedence for this situation, but we've decided to deduct 300 points from Slytherin.  It is distressing to place a point value on such a traumatic experience, but hopefully this will send a message that such actions will not be tolerated.  Mr. Goyle will spend the night in Madam Pomfrey's care and will be sent home on the morning train.  He will not be allowed to stay for the Yule Ball.  We will discuss over the break whether or not he will be allowed back at all."  McGonagall finally stopped speaking.

            "One question Miss Roane." came the voice of Professor Snape as she and George were preparing to leave.  "Is there a particular reason why you chose to physically defend yourself?  You are known to be… very talented in Charms- surely it would've been easier to use a spell?"

            Alinora took a deep breath and struggled to keep her voice and expression calm.  "I would like to respectfully remind you Professor that we are constantly told that no magic is to be used between classes in the corridors."

            "But if it would've kept you from being… hurt, as you so obviously have been?" he countered smoothly, gesturing to her arms and face where the bruises stood out lividly against her pale skin.

            She smiled slightly, shaking her head.  "By the time I knew what was happening and could've cast anything, _this_ damage was already done.  It'll heal- I've had worse." she said with an edge of bitterness.  "What I was more concerned with was preventing further damage.  My father insisted that I learn to physically defend myself from those who don't know how to take 'no' for an answer, or those who don't bother to ask at all.  My guard was down today- that's my fault, I had a lot on my mind- but instinct and training took over and I defended myself."

            Alinora consciously attempted to loosen the iron grip she had on George's hand, hoping they could get away soon.  But Snape wasn't quite finished yet.

            "But surely, by this time, **_magic_** would be as much of an instinct.  Potions may not be your strongest skill, but you otherwise seem to live and breathe magic, more than any other student here.  Why did you not just… stun him?"

            Alinora lowered her head for a moment before rising up again to look at Snape.  "I consciously decided to use physical force for many reasons.  I consciously decided to **not** use magic for still others.  I was afraid that if I did…" her voice caught and she took another deep breath, "that if I used magic, that I might lose control in my anger and seriously hurt him.  Or even kill him.  I was… very angry right then and my control severely strained."

            Snape started to laugh, but stopped as he looked into her eyes and saw how very serious she was.  Looking a bit startled, he glanced at Dumbledore questioningly.

            "You are wise to take what Alinora is saying seriously Severus- you can see the rest of us do not doubt her word and we are much more familiar with her abilities than you are."  In fact, McGonagall's face had gone quite white and even Flitwick's normally cheerful expression had disappeared.  "I've also spent the past couple hours before dinner watching Alinora explode snow balls, which may sound rather amusing until you understand that if she could do that, for hour after hour, how much damage could she have inflicted on Mr. Goyle?  Could you spend hours casting any sufficiently difficult spell, over and over again, successfully?  Without using your wand?" he asked Severus in a soft voice.  "By the way, I especially liked it once you started making them glow- very attractive firework effect as they blew up.  And your aim improved greatly once you started calming down." he said in an aside to Alinora, the twinkle coming back into his eyes.

            Alinora stared at him in amazement for a moment before putting her free hand up to cover her eyes and starting to laugh softly.

            Dumbledore had turned back to Professor Snape.  "I fully believe that Miss Roane would've been capable of doing serious damage to Mr. Goyle this afternoon, had she allowed herself to do so.  Had she not had the ability to think past her first response, to not simply react to the situation that brought back painful memories, she very well could've killed him.  I'm personally very happy that she didn't use magic and test that control.  That she, instead, chose to expend that anger in a manner that didn't hurt herself or anyone else.  Now," he said, turning to George and Alinora, who was now leaning against George for support, "I think you two had better get something to eat.  It's been a very tiring day and I'm sure your reserves are rather low."

            They nodded in agreement and slowly made their way back to the Gryffindor table where their friends were anxiously awaiting them.  As soon as they sat down they were bombarded with questions about what had been going on.

            "Please!  Can we hold off on the interrogation until after I've eaten and we're back in the common room?  I really need a little time to relax after the last interrogation session." she said, rather bitterly, nodding her head in Snape's direction.

            They kindly stopped asking questions and even headed off the concerned inquiries from the other students.  There were a few visitors from the other houses, friends of Alinora's, and even a couple from Slytherin, who came to see how she was doing.  The first of them to approach was Pansy, who Ali had befriended during the talent show.

            Seeing her anxious expression, and the anger on the faces around her, Alinora quickly got up and went to meet Pansy.  She gave her a hug, and Ali wasn't sure who was comforting who in that moment, but they both felt better afterwards.  And the angry expressions had disappeared.

            Later on, in the common room, Ali was held to her promised explanation.

            "Look, there's really not much to the whole Goyle thing.  He grabbed me and gave me a glancing blow to the jaw.  That stunned me enough that I didn't immediately react.  He'd grabbed my wand, thinking that without that I wouldn't be able to defend myself since he's so much larger than me.  But I've been taking self-defense lessons for years- after I went through this the first time.  My father felt that I needed a non-magical way to protect myself.  Anyway, he's too tall to simply punch in the face, so I punched him in the gut- he's lucky it wasn't the groin." she muttered in a low voice.  "Then, when he'd bent over in pain, I threw an upper cut punch to the jaw.  He went down immediately.  I left him there and went to tell Madam Pomfrey what I'd done, why, and where she could find him.  I also asked her not to heal him- I want him to have to deal with those aches and pains for awhile.  Then I spoke to McGonagall, which you all know about, and headed out to the lake to calm down until I felt it was safe to come back in."

            "You said that this wasn't the first time you've had someone attack you, or had something like this happen…?" Alicia asked tentatively.

            "Unfortunately not.  You see, back when I was around eleven years old, I had a very similar experience.  I'd been playing with some friends in town, it was getting late, and I had left them to walk home for dinner.  I'd noticed a stranger hanging around while we were playing, but I hadn't paid him all that much attention- I had no reason to.  But as I was cutting through an alley that was a shortcut out of town, he grabbed me.  Looking at me now, you can imagine I wasn't all that big at eleven and I had next to no self defense experience.  I was lucky enough to get a good kick in and I bit his hand so I could get free enough to scream.  Some of the local men came running and found us.  The stranger dropped me and ran off- they were never able to find him.  After that, Father made sure I learned just about every form of self-defense he could find for me- physically and magically."  Alinora shook her head, smiling slightly.

            "Then, the year I was fourteen, Mom and I went into Diagon Alley to do some window shopping while Father was meeting some people for business.  Mom and I'd split up- she wanted to brave the bookstore where there was some signing going on, but I decided to just wander around for a while.  We agreed to meet up for ice cream later and I headed off.  I got tired of window shopping a little early and headed to the ice cream shop to wait for her.  I was sitting there by myself when a strange man came up and sat down with me.  He kept talking about my looks, and how pretty I was- he was making me really uncomfortable, but I tried to be polite.  Then he tried to get me to go off with him somewhere.  When I told him no, he started getting nasty and grabbed my arm trying to physically remove me from the area.  So I stomped his foot, elbowed him in the gut and again in the nose.  Luckily, the owner of the shop had come out right as this was starting and he ran the guy off and stayed with me until mom showed up a little later.  That's when I decided to start using personal illusion charms."

            "Personal illusion charms?  Ali, what are those?" Hermione asked curiously.

            "Basically, they're just charms that change how you look or how people see you.  I had two types, that mainly only worked on you if you didn't know me all that well.  The first just worked to convince your mind to not pay me all that much attention unless we were actually interacting.  The other part actually physically changed how you'd see me."  

Ali stopped for a moment, bowing her head and speaking a few words.  When she raised her head again her appearance had changed slightly.  Her hair was shorter, mid-back length, her skin was tan, her eyes a clear emerald green.  While she was still pretty, it was more subdued, less obvious.  She looked exactly as they now remembered her to look from the year before.  "Notice the difference?"  Even her voice had changed.  "Not a major change, but enough that people wouldn't notice how I looked."  She snorted.  "It's irritating to have to keep up though, and very draining.  I'd already decided over the summer that I couldn't live like that anymore, and that I really didn't have to around you guys.  It had pretty much become a habit though, and I'd sorta forgotten about it up until then.  So, I started letting some of the charms drop.  I dropped all the remaining ones at Halloween."  Smiling around at them she dropped the illusions and they were relieved to see the real 'her' return.  "I guess I should've kept up some of the general protection charms though.  I'll have to think about how to modify them a bit…"

            "That's really horrible!  I can understand why the whole Goyle thing would upset you by bringing up all those bad memories.  But Ali, you were in a bad mood this morning, before any of this happened.  What was wrong then?" Katie asked tentatively, in a concerned voice.

            Ali forced a smile, though it was getting easier to talk about, and explained once again about her father.

            "While I don't regret for a moment coming to Hogwarts, today I finally had to deal with all those emotions I had been keeping bottled up while I came to terms with how my life is now.  And bottling those sorts of emotions up for such a long time can cause problems when they decide it's time for them to be acknowledged and dealt with- like today."  She suddenly started laughing, to their surprise.  "Goyle certainly picked the absolutely worst day to try that little stunt." she said, smiling rather maliciously.

            After that, the group had attempted to turn the conversation to more enjoyable topics.  They were fairly successful and Alinora was feeling calm, if not completely happy, by the time they all went up to bed.


	19. 18 Preparations for the Ball

**Chapter 18: Preparations for the Ball**

*************

            Alinora slept late the next morning.  After getting so little sleep the night before, and the physical and emotional wringer she'd been through the previous day; she was in need of some serious rest.  Katie finally woke her late that morning.

            "Okay lazy, it's time to be getting up!  All the youngsters are gone and you have an appointment with Madam Pomfrey to fix you up for tonight.  I brought you some food to hold you over until lunch."  With that, she started flinging open the curtains around Alinora's bed.  When that didn't produce the results she was looking for, she proceeded to yank the blankets off the bed.

            "Okay!  Okay!  I'm awake you sadist!  Give me a minute…" Ali laughed.  She slowly got to her feet, winced at some stiffness and headed off to get dressed.

            A little later, munching on a piece of toast Katie had brought her, she contemplated her reflection in the mirror.

            "You should have that looked at dear.  Quite nasty." the mirror commented.

            "On my way to do just that." Ali replied.  Katie laughed and, grabbing her by the hand, drug her out of the room and up to the hospital wing.

*************

            By lunch time, Alinora was feeling, and looking much improved.  She and Katie joined the others at lunch, where plans for the afternoon were being discussed.

            "Look, it finally stopped snowing- we **_have_** to have a snowball fight!" Lee emphatically stated.  "It's been ages since we've had the time and those of us going home after the ball won't have time tomorrow.  So it has to be today!"

            "Well Lee, if you really feel that strongly about it of course we can have a snowball fight." Alicia teased, smiling across the table at him.

            "Yeah, we'll have plenty of time to show you guys up on the field of battle before we have to get ready for tonight." Angelina said consideringly.

            "And what makes you so sure you'd beat us anyway?" Fred asked.

            "You mean if you don't take into consideration our superior skills and intelligence?  Humm… maybe the fact that we have all the Gryffindor Chaser's on our side could play a part."

            "So, I guess that means we're playing guys versus girls?" questioned George.

            "No.  Guys versus Ladies." Ginny corrected, smiling sweetly at her brothers as Angelina grinned and put an arm around her shoulders.

            Alinora and Katie quickly covered their mouths with their hands to conceal their laughter at the identical looks of shock on Ron and the twins' faces.  They really needed to understand that Ginny wasn't a little girl anymore and was more than qualified to join the ranks of the Ladies.

            After lunch, the group retired to the hall to collect their cloaks and scarves and then troop outside to begin the battle.

            The teasing and taunts flew as quickly as the snowballs.  Their loud voices and laughter drew the attention of many other students who were quick to join in with the appropriate teams.

            By the time the girls called a halt for the day so they could begin preparing for the dance, the teams numbered over 30 on each side and the battle had ranged over a great portion of the grounds.  They agreed to call it a tie.

            Laughing and flushed from the cold, the girls made their way back into the school, leaving the guys to continue the battle with new teams.  Once in the entrance hall they split up with groups of varying sizes heading off to each of the four common rooms.

*************

            The Gryffindor Ladies spent the afternoon running back and forth between the various rooms gathering opinions, advice and help with last minute changes in appearance.  Alinora had placed a ward at the bottom of the stair well leading up to the girl's wing when they'd come in.  A couple of the guys early on had tried to come up, but were gently prevented entrance.  They soon learned to call up if they actually needed to talk to someone.

            As the feast was scheduled to begin at 7pm, the girl's started making their way down to meet their dates a little after 6.  Alinora was one of the first to go down as she wanted to see the reactions of the guys as their dates appeared.  As she descended the stairs and could begin to see the guys waiting below, she and Katie stopped at the balcony over-look to get a better view.

            Various well dressed Gryffindor males were nervously milling around in the common room.  Ron was pacing in front of the fireplace and Harry was nervously attempting to smooth his hair.  Ali could see Colin calmly talking to a couple of the fourth years boys.  She knew he was taking a girl from Hufflepuff and planned to meet her down in the entrance hall a little later.

            Just then, he happened to glance up and see her and Katie looking down.  He grinned, gave them two thumbs up and called over to get George's attention from where he was talking with Fred and Lee.  Following Colin's pointing finger, they looked up to see the girls framed by the Christmas greenery decorating the balcony.  George's mouth dropped open a bit and Fred gave a wolf whistle that caught the attention of the rest of the room.  Laughing, Ali blew them all a kiss then took Katie's arm as they finished their decent.

            As they rounded the corner of the stairs, those waiting in the common room could finally see them clearly.  Katie was dressed in a floor length honey colored slip dress with spaghetti straps and her hair long and wavy down her back.  Ali had on a long, black dress with a sleeveless, corset style top.  It went well with her pale skin and her eyes, which were almost glowing green that night.  Her hair had been curled up on top of her head, with some falling down to trail along her back and shoulders.

These were definitely not the formal robes worn by most to the ball last year.

            "Wow… you both look… amazing!" George said, never taking his eyes off Ali.  Katie smirked and turned to talk to Fred and Lee and confirm that their dates would be down soon.  Ali smiled up at George and rose up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

            "Thanks George.  You're looking rather spiffy yourself." she responded, slowly looking him up and down.

            George was saved from making a reply by the fact that Ginny and Hermione chose that moment to join them in the common room.  Ginny's dress was a deep green while Hermione's was a medium blue.  Ginny's came up in front to fasten around her neck, while leaving most of her back bare.  Hermione's dress was strapless.  Both were wearing their hair up.

            Noticing that George was having a bit of a problem dealing with his "baby" sister's attire, Alinora pulled him away from the stairs.  "Would you have preferred less material in the front instead?" she said, forcing him to look down at her and away from Ginny.  "She's growing up George and you guys have to learn to let her." she said, gesturing to Fred and Ron.  Katie was running interference with Fred and luckily Ron was too distracted by Hermione to have paid much attention to Ginny's appearance.

            George looked rather mutinous, and then he relaxed.  "I'm not handling this very well am I?" he muttered, rather embarrassedly, glancing over to where an awestruck Harry was obviously attempting to say something coherent to his date.

            "You're doing as well as can be expected.  You just have to realize that she's growing up and that, despite the fact that she loves you guys, she's not going to put up with her brothers trying to hold her back- no matter how well meaning you are.  Besides," Ali continued, "Harry's a great guy and Ginny **_really_** cares for him.  Your family knows and likes him.  If I were you, I wouldn't worry unless she suddenly dumps Harry and starts dating someone like… Draco Malfoy."  She laughed at the look of horror and disgust on George's face at that idea.  "See, things could be worse.  Now, let's grab Katie and head downstairs.  She still needs to collect her date."

            "So, I finally get to find out who's escorting Katie to the Ball?  About time." He muttered, as they walked over to where Katie was talking with Ginny and Harry.

            As they approached, Ginny looked a bit apprehensive.  George leaned over and whispered something in her ear that made her laugh and blush slightly.  George then turned to Katie.  "Ready to go down?  I've been told I have _two_ beautiful dates tonight- or at least as far as the Entry Hall."  Offering each of the girls an arm they left the common room and headed down the stairs.

*************

            The Entry Hall was filled with students.  Ali, Katie and George stopped before reaching the bottom of the stairs so the girls could scan the crowd for Oliver.

            "Is that him, over there by the statue?" Ali asked, pointing across the room at a tall, sandy haired man leaning against the wall and staring around at the room.

            Katie grinned, "Yep, that would be him."  She headed out into the crowd to make her way over to him.  Ali and George followed behind her.

            "That guy looks a lot like Oliver Wood" George whispered to Ali as they made their way between milling couples.

            "Really?" Alinora asked in mock astonishment.

            "Don't give me that Ali.  Katie's finally got a date with Wood?  Amazing!"

            "Some guys just take a while to see what's right in front of them." Ali replied, tapping George on the nose.

            He laughed and then greeted Oliver, whom they'd finally made it to.  He had his arm around Katie's shoulders and they were laughing.  After exchanging greetings and introducing Ali to Oliver, George asked about Oliver's Quidditch team.  They were soon discussing the pros and cons of the various teams in the league, and it only got worse as Fred, Angelina, Lee and Alicia joined them.  The crowd was thinning as couples went in to prepare for dinner.

            Finally, Katie had had enough.  "Well Ali, as it looks like I've lost my date for the dance before it's even begun, would you do me the honor of joining me for dinner?"

            "I'd be delighted." she replied and took the arm Katie held out to her.  The two turned and started walking towards the doors to the Great Hall.

            They could hear laughing as someone ran to catch up with them and then someone grabbed Ali's free arm.  "Katie, you know I love you, but you can't have my girlfriend tonight.  I've gone through a lot for this date, and you're not stealing her away from me now!  Besides, you have your own date…" George said, removing Ali's arm from Katie's and leading her into the hall as Oliver came to meekly rejoin his date.  They all followed George and Ali into the room and to an empty table in time for the feast to begin.


	20. 19 A Letter Home: December

**Chapter 19: A Letter Home**

*************

December 26th

            Hi Mom!  Happy Christmas!  I wish I could've spent the holiday with you, but I have had a fun time here despite that.

            We had the Yule Ball a couple days ago.  The dress I was telling you about turned out beautifully and George was very handsome.  Colin took pictures and I'll include some with this letter.  But let me tell you what's been going on around here since I last wrote.

            Before the ball, we had _The Feast_.  George and I sat with Fred & Angelina, Katie & Oliver and Lee & Alicia.  Instead of the food just appearing, like normal, we had a menu that we could choose from and the food just appeared on our plates.  I had a wonderful fish meal (you'd think after growing up on the coast I'd be sick of seafood!).  It was nice to finally meet the guy Katie's been talking about for ages, but… I have a feeling she could do better.  I guess we'll see how it works out.

            After dinner, Dumbledore cleared the tables and set up a stage for the band.  They were no one I'd heard of, but the others seemed quite impressed.  The band was pretty good though and played a mixture of Muggle and Wizard music.

            I mentioned a while back that I'd been teaching George how to dance.  He's really pretty good at it, despite the jokester image he puts forth.  It was nice to dance with him, and show off how good he's become, but for once all that fancy stuff just wasn't what I was wanting (I know, please don't die of shock over that one!).  I just wanted to have a good time- laugh and enjoy myself and I didn't feel like I could do that for some reason.  So, I decided that I had to change what I was wearing- to make it more conducive to having fun.  My dress was pretty long so I transfigured it.  I kept the corset style top as it was originally (since it was my favorite part anyway!), and added some low ridding dress pants underneath.  I also got rid of the curled up, piled high hair.  Do you remember the whole braid thing I started doing a couple years ago?  All those little braids all over?  That's what I went with- it was quite the interesting look (Sara would've been proud).  I don't think George was too upset.  He seemed to find the whole thing quite amusing actually.

            I thought McGonagall would have a fit about it though.  She was already a bit out of sorts about the dresses we'd all chosen to wear.  I got the impression they were not as reserved in style as she would've preferred.

            The band announced at one point that they'd been told we had some talented singers here at the school and asked if any of them would care to come up and perform with the band.  Do I really have to tell you how I reacted to that one?  Didn't think so!  I was surprised, and happy, to see that Katie and Ginny were willing to take up the challenge too.  The three of us have been working on a few things over the past couple months; so, we were fairly well prepared.  We made our way up to the stage and spoke with the band's lead singer.  She was quite amused that anyone had had the nerve to take her up on her offer, but we settled on a song they knew and they began to play.  Mom, that was so much fun!!  We really do sing well together and I think everyone was impressed.  Not too many people had heard Ginny sing- she played an instrument in the talent show you remember- and she was great.  I could tell her brothers were shocked though, that whole _little sister _thing again.  I guess I should be glad I never had to deal with that.

            The band actually asked if we wanted to do another song, but we declined and rejoined the rest.  George was busy congratulating Ginny, so I decided to go push my luck some more, since things have been oh so boring around here recently…  Remember the Potions teacher I told you about?  Professor Snape?  I decided to go ask him to dance.  I know, I'm insane, but at the time it sounded amusing.  I also didn't really expect him to accept- he's really not very fond of anyone in Gryffindor.

            But maybe he hates me a little less than the others, or took my invitation as a challenge, or simply wanted to torment me, because he said yes.  He's not a bad dancer- that habit of _swooping_ around everywhere actually works while dancing.  But he was his normal obnoxious self conversationally, so I felt right at home.  I get the feeling he's testing me, but he's not going to get me to react.  I've survived teachers like him before- remember Kenneth?  What an arse he was!  Snape, no matter how many detentions he hands out and snide comments he makes, will never hold a candle to him!  Anyway, he baited me throughout the dance and I ignored it admirably I believe and even thanked him for the dance at the end of it.  He looked a bit disappointed.  Poor guy.  My heart bleeds, really it does…

            Then, I asked Dumbledore to dance.  He accepted gravely, while doing that whole twinkly eye thing he always does when he's amused, and we took to the floor.  Did you know that Dumbledore can tango?  I never would've guessed.  I guess that answers my previous question as to whether he can dance…  He complemented me on my attire and I told him that I liked his hat (it was tall, black and covered in twinkling bright blue stars).  He offered to let me wear it, but I told him that it would clash with my outfit.  He only laughed.  McGonagall looked scandalized that we were dancing- I can only imagine what her expression was while I was dancing with Snape!  Too bad Colin didn't get a picture of that too…  Don't get me wrong, I really do like McGonagall, but she can be a bit uptight about things.

            As the song ended, George came to 'collect his girlfriend'.  We danced the rest of the evening and had a really great time.  Not bad for a first date!

            Despite how well everything's going, I'm still a bit wary about it all.  Not about George- he's… everything I ever wanted to find, though I never expected to find him so soon.  I guess I just never really believed you and Grandmother when you told me that the family Gift would one day show me who was to be the man meant for me.  It always sounded so convenient- sure, it's probably real easy after the fact to interpret these things favorably.  But since that shock/vision/whatever, I had last year when I first met George… let's just say that the evidence is building up in your favor.

            I am a bit afraid of how George will take all this when, or if, he finds out.  I mean what guys wants to know that he's fated to be with you forever?  Goddess knows I've pitched enough fits about the whole destiny thing and I've at least had my whole life to get use to the idea!  Hopefully the topic won't come up anytime soon…

            But on to other things!

            Only a few of us stayed for Christmas.  The Weasley's stayed- I forget where their parents were this year that made them decide to stay- as did Harry (of course), Katie and Hermione.  On Christmas morning, we all brought our gifts down to the common room to open them together.  I really didn't expect to have anything from anyone but you, but I didn't do too badly.  Dumbledore had sent me a music box that plays _Masquerade_ from Phantom (you know how much I **_love_** that song!).  Uncle Remi had sent me a book on the history of magic as it pertains to music (Hermione has already asked to borrow it!).  Sara sent me a rather scandalous outfit that I won't tell you about here since I'm sure you'd only worry!  Unca Gerry sent me some music from the various countries he's been working in.  And I **_loved_** the locket you sent me!  The choker length is cool and I like having pictures of you and Father to show my friends.  I look forward to adding a forth to pair with mine at some point in the future.  No names right now as to who that might be… ha!

            I did have to explain who Remi, Sara and Gerry are.  I guess I'm getting a bit too good at keeping things to myself, how else would the others not know who they are by this point?  So I explained how they'd been some of my teachers in the past and how they'd become friends that I still kept in touch with since they are now family as well.  I also had to explain that you weren't dead.  That was a bit of a surprise, but I guess the whole living with the godparents thing was what caused the confusion.  George had already known of course, but not the others.  Oops.

            There's only so much I could explain before I had to change the topic and distract them with something else.  I wish I could tell them everything, but something inside me knows that it's not quite time for that.  I hate it.  It's getting harder and harder to not tell them everything because they are trustworthy and I know that they're my friends and won't judge me.  Sara has tried to tell me in the past that she thinks that I have a bit more of the Gift than the females of our line have previously had- must be the wizard blood- and she thinks that's why I get these… feelings about what's going to happen and what I need to be doing.  If that's the case, then I'd like to submit a complaint on how unclear these things are.  Why can't I tell them about us?  Why is it not yet time?  What am I waiting for?  Why have I felt the need to take such drastic precautions in preparation for some event that I can't See?  It drives me quite crazy sometimes, so I've been trying to ignore it and just trust that my subconscious knows what it's doing.

            Wow, that was quite a tangent!  And quite depressing.  Enough of that, back to Christmas!

            Fred & George were shocked speechless over the letter from Mr. Zonko.  He's really interested in their inventions, and wants to meet with them soon to discuss marketing them (glad I ran into him this summer and could peak his interest…).  Colin had also helped me get a really good picture of George and I from the dance (original outfit!) and I had it framed for George as well.  Harry and Ron got candy and I found a book on Protection Charms for Hermione since she's been asking about them.  I had a hard time deciding what to get for Katie and Ginny.  I finally took your advice and got both of them jewelry.  They both liked their necklaces (and the general protection charms I cast on them can't hurt either).

            The Ladies went in together to get me some drums- I've been wanting to learn to play for a while (aren't you glad I can't come live with you now?  Imagine the practicing!).  The guys had gotten me a whole selection of goodies from Zonko's and Honeydukes.  I'm sure that will make the next couple months quite entertaining- get me giddy on sugar and let me lose with things that explode- not to mention the drums!  Yeah, sounds like a smart idea to me too!  George has also promised me a real date in the near future- I'm quite interested in how he's going to manage that here, but I'm sure he'll come up with something entertaining.

            And speaking of George, which I feel like I do way too often, I've decided I'm addicted to his kisses.  I have to ration myself- limit the number of times I allow myself to go up behind him, wrap my arms around his neck and lean over and kiss him on the cheek.  Which I'm sure, by itself, would be fine, but, when I do, he will often stop what he's doing and turn around and kiss me back.  I can feel those kisses down to my toes- I just want to fall into that sensation and never come out of it.  That scares me.  Is this normal?!?  Did you feel like this with Father?  You do realize that there's no way I'd be writing to you about this unless I really was concerned… it's not like I have much comparison to judge by.  Forget for a moment you're my mom and send along some female advice before I decide I have to lock myself in my room to keep from trying to touch him!

            Wow, this has gone on much longer than I'd expected, but I guess I had a lot to tell you.  I can't wait until this summer when I can come visit again.  I'd love for you to meet George, but I'll have to see how things stand at the end of the year to see if that's really an option.

            I love and miss you dearly!

Love,

Alinora


	21. 20 A Remembered Date

**Chapter 20: A Remembered Date**

*************

            _Why does homework always seem to be never ending?_ George wondered, staring down at the books in front of him.  He and Fred were spread out over one half of a table in the common room, while Lee and Alicia took the other half.  All were intently working on homework.  The Professors weren't letting up on any of them as N.E.W.T.s were only a few short months away; they seemed convinced that if the students had any free time, they'd obviously fail them.

            Alinora would normally have been with them, but she'd decided that she wanted to spend some quality time with her 'brother' Colin instead.  Glancing across the room, he could see the two of them with their heads bent over Colin's Transfiguration text book.

            He wondered just how much homework they were really getting done, considering the amount of laughter he'd been hearing from them; but just then Colin pulled out his wand and successfully transfigured his ink well into a small frog.  Alinora was quick to grab it before it could hop away, giving him time to change it back to its original shape.  His fellow fourth years, sitting near by, applauded and Colin stood to give them a sweeping bow.  As he sat back down, Ali gave him a hug.

            George grinned at the look of pride on Ali's face- Colin was only an okay Transfiguration student and had been struggling with that assignment for a while.  Just then, Alinora glanced over and caught his eye.  She smiled, sending a surge of warmth through him.  She maintained eye contact for a few moments more before turning back to reply to a comment from Colin.

            George forced himself to look away and glanced back at his Transfiguration paper.  But his heart wasn't in it right now- luckily it wasn't due for a few more days.  Putting down his quill, he propped his head on his hand and stared into the fire.  As they seemed to do a lot lately, his thoughts turned to Alinora.  Only recently had he been able to follow through on his Christmas promise of a 'real' date- just the two of them.

            It had taken him long enough to put his plans into motion that it had almost been Valentine's Day before he was ready.  He'd considered holding off until then, but Ginny had convinced him that Ali really wouldn't care so he shouldn't bother waiting.

            He also found it amusing that in order to set the scene he had wanted he had had to learn even more advanced charms than the ones they'd covered in class.  McGonagall and Flitwick had been quite helpful, though also a bit amused.  Even Dumbledore had appeared one evening while he was practicing to suggest a room near the tower where he could hold his date, as well as providing a couple of suggestions…  If it wasn't all so funny, he might be a bit irritated by their involvement, but he also knew they were concerned about how intense Ali had been getting over the past couple weeks.  They obviously knew something that they weren't telling him that concerned her, but they did agree that she needed to take a break for a while and were willing to help him make sure that happened.

            So, the day had finally come; and while the rest of the tower's occupants had headed down to dinner, he had escorted Ali down a side hall that neither had remembered seeing before, and to the room George had prepared…

*************

            As she opened the door to walk in, she was hit by a wave of summer warmth.  Alinora gasped and stopped in amazement as she stared at what appeared to be a mountain clearing.  Off to the side was a waterfall that ended in a small lake that flowed away in a stream.  There appeared to be a picnic meal set up near the stream, under a willow tree.

            "Oh my!  George…  How did you…?  Wow… this is amazing!" Ali stammered as she slowly walked into the room and removed the cloak she was wearing to conceal the t-shirt and shorts she'd been told to wear.

            George followed her in and shut the door behind them, where it disappeared into the scenery.  He removed his own cloak and walked over to where the picnic supplies were waiting.

            Ali had wandered over to look into the pool created at the base of the small waterfall.  "Can we go swimming first?  Just for a little while?  Please???" she asked, glancing back to where George was standing.

            As he heard the pleading in her voice, all he could do was smile and nod then he turned back to continue making sure that everything he'd arrange for was there.  He glanced up again at the sound of a splash as Ali dove into the water.

            George smiled as he quickly stripped down to his swim suit and headed towards the pool- he'd had a feeling Ali would rather enjoy the water, since she spent most of her free time at the lake as it was, and she had grown up beside the ocean.  Thankfully, Dumbledore had been able to help him make it work.

            Nearing the side of the pool, he sat down on the edge and looked around for Alinora.  Just then she resurfaced, shaking back her long hair with a broad grin on her face.

            "_This_ is wonderful George.  I don't know how you managed it, but **thank you**!" she said, smiling happily up at him.  She was slowly making her way towards him through the water and into the shallower areas around the edge.

            As she slowly rose from the water, George felt his heart skip a beat.  She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen- her hair, weighed down by the water, hung down her back in waves, her eyes sparkled a brilliant green and… he didn't think that excuse for a bathing suit she practically _wasn't_ wearing was even legal around here; but he wasn't complaining.  In fact, he was simply attempting not to stare too obviously and to remember what it took to breath properly.

            "So, are you coming in?"

            "Huh… what?  Oh, yeah.  Definitely." he said, shaking his head to clear it and lowering himself into the water.

            Ali grinned at him, turned, and dove back under the water.  As her feet cleared the surface and were about to follow the rest of her back under, she flicked them back towards him- spraying George with water.

            Sputtering and wiping water and hair out of his eyes, George dove after her.  For the next twenty minutes, they chased each other around the pool where he soon found himself out-classed.  He'd always considered himself a strong swimmer, he'd grown up swimming in the lake near his home, but it was impossible to keep up with Alinora.

            Finally exhausted, George made his way back to a shallower area of the lake and tried to figure out where Ali had disappeared to this time.  He caught a flicker of movement near his legs just before Ali surfaced behind him.  Jumping a little out of the water, she threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist.  Leaning over his shoulder, she kissed his cheek, whispering, "Thanks George.  I really can't imagine anything I would've liked more than this- with you."

            "Well, I can't imagine anyone else I'd go to so much trouble for."  As he said it, George realized that _maybe_ that wasn't quite the proper response…

            But Alinora just laughed and nuzzled her face down into the crook of his neck.  "I'll take that as a compliment as I'm sure this wasn't an easy thing to arrange."

            They stood there for a while longer until they were interrupted by the sound of George's stomach growling.  His ears went red and Ali started giggling.

            Dropping down, Ali turned George around to face her.  "Why don't you finish up with whatever preparations you need to do and I'll be out to join you in just a few minutes…"

            George nodded and moved to get out of the water.  Ali dove under again and swam out to the waterfall. She played in the spray for a little while before coming a bit closer in.  She created a rock perch in the water to sit on.  Summoning a comb from among her belongings, she began to comb out her wet hair- humming to herself.  By using a little bit of magic, she was able to get it combed out and dried by the time George was ready.  Transfiguring the comb into a long, pointed stick, Alinora twisted her hair up on the top of her head and used the stick to anchor it into place.  Then, she lowered her perch back into the water and slowly made her way back to shore.

            Using one of the towels that had been provided to wrap up in, she had soon joined George at the picnic.  The conversation flowed smoothly from topic to topic, from the mundane to the ridiculous.  As 'day' began fading into twilight they pulled their clothes back on over their now dry swimsuits.  Using towels as pillows and their cloaks as light blankets, they lay looking up at the stars above them.  While pointing out various constellations and talking, they both fell asleep.

            George was woken up sometime later by the sound of a door opening.  For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was, but then he felt the weight of Alinora's head pillowed on his chest.  Afraid to open his eyes too much, he glanced towards the door to see who'd entered.

            In the faint light seeping in from the hallway, he could see Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall standing in the doorway.  Realizing how late it must be, and how long past curfew, he fully expected to be in a lot of trouble…

            "Albus, should we not wake them?  They should have been back in the tower hours ago!" McGonagall whispered loudly.

            "No Minerva, let them sleep.  It can't hurt to let them stay.  They both deserve the break and it may be one of the few they get in the coming days.  Let them enjoy the peace while they can."  Dumbledore motioned her back and McGonagall turned to leave the room.

            When she'd turned and could no longer see into the room, Dumbledore took out his wand.  Pointing it to where George and Alinora were laying, he created a cushion underneath them.  Then, pointing his wand up, he renewed the charm on the ceiling so the stars glowed again.  Winking, he turned and left, shutting the door behind him.

            Feeling movement beside him, George turned to see Ali grinning sleepily at him.  "Gotta love that man…  G'night." she mumbled, snuggling closer before her eyes closed and she fell back asleep.

            Cradling her closer, George closed his eyes as well.  His last thought before he too was asleep was that yes, it **had** been a good night.

*************

            George startled as someone touched his shoulder, drawing him from his memories.  Turning, he noticed that the common room had emptied while he wasn't paying attention and Alinora was standing over him grinning.

            "I thought you'd about gone to sleep sitting there, despite having your eyes open.  Not doing homework tonight?" she said gesturing at the parchment that was no further along than it had been hours before.

            "No, I was remembering our date from a couple weeks back." he smiled, pulling her around to sit on his lap and wrapping his arms around her.  She was quick to do the same and they sat there in silence for a moment- both remembering.

            "That was a wonderful night.  I'm very happy though that we woke up early enough to have made it back to the tower before anyone noticed we'd never come in the night before." Ali commented, smiling mischievously at him.

            "True.  I don't want to imagine the ribbing I would've gotten from Fred…"

            "Yeah, and I don't want to imagine what Angelina would've done to me after she found out what I'd done to her boyfriend in retaliation for that ribbing!"  They laughed.  "Well, I was actually heading up to bed- it's quite late and we do have classes in the morning."

            "Sweet dreams then." he said, leaning down to kiss her.

            When they resurfaced a while later, slightly breathless, Ali quickly got to her feet.  "Well, if that doesn't guarantee good dreams, I don't know what will."

Pressing a quick kiss to his forehead, Ali turned and ran up the stairs to her room; leaving George to wish that he could wake up the next morning and find Alinora once more cradled in the circle of his arms instead of the lonely solitude he'd experienced since that night under the stars.


	22. 21 Training Continues

**Chapter 21: Training Continues**

*************

            _Defending yourself_ _from an attack probably shouldn't be quite this amusing…_ Alinora thought, suppressing a wide grin.  She had to keep up her singing to continue her defense spell- grinning would only interrupt that effort.

            Ali had been working on a defense spell that was musical in nature.  Working with Professor Flitwick extensively over the past couple months, she was now putting it to the test against both he and Professor McGonagall.  While most charms or spells, are made up of a wand motion and a spoken verbal component, this one substituted song and dance.  While it might not work for most people, so far it was proving quite successful for her.

            They'd been going strong for almost twenty minutes now, her movements still flowing along with the melody in her head and the lyrics she was singing.  Ali had her wand out, but it wasn't necessary for the spell- it was more of an accessory.  She could see the hexes and curses being deflected by the glowing web she'd spun around herself.

            She realized that they would have to be stopping soon, as the others would soon be here for their lesson.  Just then she caught a glimpse of them entering, out of the corner of her eye, as she twirled to the beat.  Noticing a couple of hexes being deflected off in their direction, Ali added an extra motion to her dance, throwing up a sparkling shield in front of them- to stop both their movement forward and as well as preventing any stray spells from impacting on them.  Alinora was beginning to feel a bit tired…

            "I think it's about time to call it a night Minerva and let Miss Roane rest a bit." Flitwick called out as he finally lowered his wand.  McGonagall nodded, finished casting her last spell and relaxed.

            As the last spell deflected itself off towards the ceiling, Alinora slowed her steps and finally stopped moving completely, ending her song at the same time.  Panting slightly she leaned over to stretch her back muscles, reaching down and out with her arms.

            "Ali!  Move!" she heard Katie yell and she quickly stood up and started moving to the side when something hit her left shoulder. Gasping in pain and shock, Ali looked back and saw what appeared to be a piece of the stone that made up the ceiling of the room.  Looking up, she could see where McGonagall's last spell had hit the ceiling and knocked loose the chunk that had hit her.

            "Okay, that wasn't fun." Ali grumbled clutching at the wound on her arm, craning her neck around and trying to get a good view of what had happened.  All she could tell was that it hurt and was bleeding fairly profusely.

            "Hold on Ali, let me take a look.  Ginny, could you run and get me a wet cloth from the bathroom down the hall?"  Ginny nodded and ran out as Katie walked over to take a look at Alinora's arm.  "I don't think it's too deep, though you'll probably have a pretty nice bruise.  Good thing you moved as much as you did or it probably would've hit you on the head…  Madam Pomfrey has been showing me a few healing charms and once I've removed some of the blood to get a look at the damage, I should be able to patch you up enough to stop the bleeding."

            "Sounds good to me.  I don't know what that last spell was you threw at me, but if it can take chunks out of this ceiling; I'm glad I didn't catch the full brunt of it." Ali said, grinning over at Professor McGonagall who was in the process of fixing the damage to the ceiling.

            "What's the use of testing your defensive spell if there's nothing being thrown at it that can cause real damage?" McGonagall replied.

            "Quite true."

            Ginny had returned with a damp cloth and Katie began dabbing at the blood.  George pulled a couple chairs over for them to sit on while Katie was doing her work and was now squatting on the floor beside Ali with his arm around her.  Ali leaned her head against his chest and attempted to finish catching her breath.

            Soon enough, Katie had finished with her basic charms and sealed over the cut on Ali's arm so that the bleeding was stopped and she could move it as normal.  Flitwick and McGonagall had left once they were certain things were going to be okay.

            "Great job.  Thanks Katie.  Okay guys, enough stalling, time to get to work.  We've been doing various exercises over the past four months to build up your skills in doing magic without a wand.  You've all worked really hard and have improved much faster than I originally expected considering none of you had any prior knowledge of the topic.  So tonight, I want us to have a little fun with it."  Ali grinned at them mischievously, trying not to laugh at their slightly confused looks- this wasn't the way lessons normally began…

            Alinora walked over to a small desk near the door, pulled out her wand and put it down on its surface.  "Okay, any of you who brought your wands with you, bring them here."  All four were quick to join her and deposit their wands with hers.  Once they were all accounted for, Alinora placed her hands out flat over the pile, mumbled a quick charm and watched in satisfaction as a glowing field rose up to seal off the wands.

            "Okay!  The goal for this session is simple- attack and defense.  No hexes, just simple color charms that mark those who get hit.  Very similar to our… testing of your new products back before Christmas." Ali said, smiling at Fred and George, who were beginning to grin back.  Glancing over at Katie and Ginny she could see they were also beginning to smile.  "No real teams and no goals other than to stay as unmarked as possible.  Also, the color charms have to wear off in thirty minutes.  We'll play for twenty minutes.  Everyone understand?"  At their nods, Ali continued.  "Okay, find a place to begin your stand."  They each moved to different areas of the room and waited.  Ali transfigured a nearby book into an hourglass.  "Ready? Begin." and she turned over the hourglass.

*************

            Twenty minutes later, they were all panting and laughing as they gathered in the center of the room.  Collapsing to the floor in a loose circle they looked around at each other to see what damages they'd managed to do.  Everyone was marked a little, but no where near the extent most had carried during the earlier battle in the Gryffindor common room.

            Alinora, from her seat between George and Katie, looked around at them in satisfaction.  It was all well and good to do magic without a wand when you had time to focus and concentrate on what you wanted to do.  It was something completely different to do so successfully in the wild free-for-all they'd just had, but they'd managed it well.  She grinned happily at George, who reached out to take her hand as he grinned back, and then she turned to address the group.

            "That went very well.  I think we all are aware of how well things went, considering this was a much more chaotic situation than our normal sessions are.  There's a reason for that though; we were being critiqued tonight- every class has tests and tonight has been one of ours."  With that said, Ali turned to glance back into a dark corner, where no one's eyes seemed able to focus; and with a slight grimace from the attempt to concentrate said, "I think we're about ready for you now."

            As the others watched in confusion, there was a slight shimmer then they were suddenly staring at Professor Dumbledore and Alistair "Mad Eye" Moody who had been seated in the corner watching the proceedings.

            "Yes, I think that would be our cue." Dumbledore said calmly as the two joined them in the center of the room.  Glancing down at the floor where the others were sitting, Dumbledore shook his head and summoned two chairs from the other side of the room for himself and Moody to sit on.  Once they were comfortably seated in the gap that had been made to include them, Dumbledore continued.  "Alinora has been keeping me up to date with your progress over the past months.  I, in turn, have been communicating with Alistair since he met with Miss Roane earlier this year."  Dumbledore turned to look at Moody who had been staring intently at each student in turn.  His other eye was constantly in motion, scanning the room for any sign of attack.  "Alistair, would you care to begin with your comments?"

            Moody nodded, still staring at them consideringly.  As he began to speak, Ali felt a jolt of pain streak through her head.  Her grip on George's hand tightened involuntarily, pulling his attention away from what Moody was saying.  He glanced at Ali's face and noticed that she'd gone slightly pale and was clutching at the side of her head with her free hand.  Leaning over slightly, George whispered to her, "Are you okay?  You don't look so good…"

            Ali shook her head slightly and attempted to smile at him.  "It's nothing, just a headache.  Came on pretty fast though…"  She stopped, tilting her head in Moody's direction, "We should be paying a bit more attention to our critique."  Smiling a bit more naturally, she turned back to listen to what Moody was saying.  George stared at her in concern for a bit longer before he was able to resume concentrating on what was going on.

            "All in all, I'm quite impressed by skills you've shown.  You are all intelligent, creative and, from what I've been told, quite courageous.  Those are skills I've been looking for.  I may no longer be an Auror, but that does not mean that I'm not still concerned with the safety of the Wizarding world and the ultimate removal of Voldemort and his Death Eaters.  We have a war coming, and we need to be prepared.  Because of that, I have a proposition for the four of you…"

            "Wait a minute," Ginny broke in, glancing around suspiciously, "there are five of us here, why are you proposing this to only four of us?"

            Moody stared at her in silence, for once both eyes in agreement as to their point of interest.  Under his intense regard Ginny began to squirm, but pulled herself together to stare back at him in irritation.  At that Moody smiled and nodded his head to Ginny.  "I'm only putting this offer forward to four of you because Miss Roane accepted months ago and therefore doesn't need to be asked."

            The others turned to look at Alinora, but she ignored them.  She was staring intently at Moody, a very serious look on her face.

            Moody continued, "Most of you will be leaving school in a few months- have you given any thought to what you will be doing afterwards?"  He paused for a moment, but no one spoke up.  "I'm in need of a couple of brave, intelligent, talented and creative people, who are capable of keeping secrets, to take on a very important job.  It's likely to be hard and most likely very dangerous, and you'll need to be able to work together successfully in order to make it work.  How is it sounding so far?"  He once again stared at each of them in turn as they all sat there in silence, faces set in intense concentration, waiting to hear what came next.  "Well then, let me tell you what it would entail…"


	23. 22 Irritations and Revelations

**Chapter 22: Irritations and Revelations**

*************

            The next couple weeks gave them all time to consider the offer from Moody and the answers they'd each given.  Though it seemed like something so momentous should be obvious to the world, life continued on as it had been.  The only exception was Alinora's headaches, which had begun the night of their talk with Moody; and they were getting worse.

            The gang was almost done for the week.  They had two more classes to go; unfortunately, the first of those was potions.  Everyone's favorite.  George had been watching Alinora closely over the past couple weeks.  Her headaches were worrying him, but every time he asked her about them she brushed aside his worry with a nonchalant, "It's just a headache- probably just stress from all the homework."  Not that he believed her excuses and he really didn't think she did either.  There was a look in her eyes that said she wasn't quite as confident as she was trying to sound.

*************

            Potions class was in full swing.  Snape had given them the description of a new potion, but very little info beyond what needed to be added and the necessary steps to take to get it to brew correctly.  He'd told them that his time of babying them through Potions class was over and that they would now have to put their 'meager learnings' to good use if they expected to have the potion be viable at the end of class.  As they hadn't even been told the name of what they were concocting, most weren't looking forward to end of class.

            Alinora and her partner Jason had begun their potion with the rest of their classmates.  They had been quietly laughing over some of the suggestions Jason had been making as to just what the potion could be used for.  Despite their laughter, they were keeping a close eye on their potion and what they needed to be doing in order to finish it correctly.

George was finally beginning to breathe easier and think they might actually make it through Potions without any problems when he heard Ali gasp, followed by the sound of breaking glass.  Looking up from where he and Fred were working in the back of the room, he could see a broken vial of something on the surface in front of Ali.  She was hunched over, once again clutching the side of her head.  He could hear Jason asking her what was wrong, but her only answer was to shake her head.

            Alinora was unfortunately getting quite use to the pain, which felt like there was some creature inside her head trying to claw its way out.  Slowly straightening up, still clutching at her head, she stepped away from the desk.  Looking up she could see Professor Snape standing near by, watching the proceedings curiously.

            "I think… I need to go… see Madam Pomfrey, Professor.  If you… will excuse me."  Ali turned to begin gathering her books, gritting her teeth at the pain and ignoring the looks on the faces of her classmates.

            "You have not finished your potion yet, Miss Roane.  As this is infinitely vital to your passing this class, I suggest you consider whether that is such a good idea."  He ignored the gasps of the other students, staring intently at Alinora who was still turned away packing her bag.

            Ali froze.  Then, standing up, she spun around to face Snape.  Her face was cold and still as she slowly stalked forward, towards him.  Her eyes were angry though, still holding a shadow of pain, as she stopped in front of Snape, hands on her hips.

            "You want me to finish the potion, do you Professor?" she spat at him, "Fine, here it is for you, spelled out so that anyone with two brain cells can understand.  What we're making today is a truth potion, only slightly less potent than Veritaserum, but not as tightly regulated.  It is incredibly tricky to get right though, which means not many bother trying to brew it themselves.  The directions you gave us were accurate only up to a point.  You forgot to list that at the point where you add the crushed Boracata beetle you should stir the potion only two times, until it turns bright green- further stirring will ruin the potion.  At that point you add the remaining ingredients slowly, stirring each time only until the color changes.  The end potion should be lavender in color and smell faintly of oranges.  The potion works on the person taking it for thirty minutes during which time they will answer any question put to them as truthfully as they can.  The only known limitations are that you can acquire an immunity to the potion if you are exposed to it often enough."

            By this time, Ali was directly in front of Snape; glaring up at him angrily.  "You've been pushing at me all year- trying to get me to react, to respond to your _veiled_ insults." she hissed at him, not loud enough for anyone other than him to hear her.  Seeing his slight look of surprise, she continued, "I would think that you, if anyone, would understand that there are times when it is best for the full truth not to be known.  The more you push, the more you question when things are better kept quiet, the more likely you are to mess up what you don't fully understand.  Did we **_really_** have to do this today?"

            Taking a step back, Alinora continued in a louder voice.  "Are you satisfied **now** Professor that I am already competent when it comes to this particular lesson?  If so, then I will continue to the Hospital Wing."  Cocking her head, she considered him briefly before turning on her heel and returning to her desk.  Reaching it, she leaned over to continue packing up her bag when a second, and completely unexpected, wave of pain hit her.  Huddled over once again, kneeling on the floor, Ali wasn't aware of anyone else until she felt a gentle touch on her forehead.  Following that came a buffer from the pain- not ridding her of it completely, but putting it at enough of a distance that she could move again.

            Glancing up, Ali saw Katie kneeling beside her, looking very concerned.  "That should help for a little while, but I can only provide a very minor pain block.  You need to go see Madam Pomfrey right now.  I'll bring your stuff to you later.  Go."

            Alinora managed a weak smile.  "Yes, Mother." she teased softly before starting to stand.  Jason was quick to give her a hand up.  Ignoring Snape and the rest of the class, she headed for the door.  Fred and George were sitting in the desk closest to it, looking very worried, and as she passed, George held out a hand to her.  Ali didn't stop, but reached out to lightly grip his hand and smile at him as she passed.  Then, she was gone.

*************

            Alinora spent the rest of the afternoon and evening sleeping.  Neither Madam Pomfrey nor Dumbledore, who was consulted as well, could figure out what was causing all the headaches she'd been getting.  At last, Madam Pomfrey gave up and gave her a Dreamless Sleep potion and told her to go sleep it off- that it was all probably stress related.  Neither Alinora nor Dumbledore really agreed that this was the reason behind the headaches, but as neither had a better solution they went along with it.

            Waking up the next day, Ali swore to herself that she was never taking that particular potion again.  While she had slept well, it left her feeling sluggish and slightly disorientated; for some reason this didn't feel like a good day to be either.  She had missed breakfast completely and everyone had already returned and assembled in the common room by the time she was able to join them.

            "Ali, how are you feeling today?"  Alinora had a feeling that George had been lying in wait for her…

            "I'm feeling fine; a little groggy from the potion Madam Pomfrey gave me, but that's it."

            "Was she able to tell you what's been causing all of these headaches?  You've been getting them more frequently recently, and I've never seen you get one like yesterday's."  George looked concerned.

            "Madam Pomfrey thinks it's all stress related and Dumbledore, while not agreeing with her, doesn't have a better idea."

            "It could be stress you know.  Just look at all you're doing!  On top of all the 7th year class work, you're working with us, working with Flitwick; you had been doing some other research earlier this year…  It's enough to give anyone headaches- it's just amazing you haven't had them before now.  You need to take a break!" he finished, reaching out to grip her arms, staring down at her intensely.

            "I can't George; not right now.  Maybe in a little while, but not right now…"  Ali's voice trailed off as she looked past him, brow furled in concentration, as if trying to see something not quite in focus.

            "But, why can't you?  What is so important that you're putting yourself through all this pain?!?"

            "I don't know."  She said it so softly that George almost didn't hear her.  The confusion and irritation that statement caused showed plainly on her face as she glanced back at him.  "I don't know why I know I can't afford to stop yet.  I just do.  It's a feeling- a very **strong** feeling- that all of this is going to be very important, very soon.  If I stop, I might not be ready in time!"

            "In time for what?  What aren't you telling me?" he asked suspiciously.  "I know there are things you've held back- things you haven't told any of us.  I don't know why you've done it- and I haven't pressed you about it- but maybe you should reconsider.  Something's hurting you and that can't be good.  Is it worth it for these secrets?  Are they that important?"

            Looking up into his concerned and worried face, Alinora wanted at that moment to explain everything, or at least everything that she knew.  But before she could even open her mouth to speak she could feel it; feel that it wasn't yet time and that to offer explanations, even to someone she trusted as much as she trusted George, could be a very bad thing.  Of course, as always, she had no idea why that might be the case as her own personal form of divination didn't work that way.  No visions, no clear cut answers, just those nebulous 'feelings' about what was going to happen.  But, as they had been proving all too accurate, she had to listen to what they were saying.

            "I think it's worth it.  Only time will tell though.  But believe me George, when this all clears up I'll be very happy to explain everything that's been going on to you.  In fact, I'll probably have a lot of explaining in general to do…" she said in a pensive voice, biting lightly at her lower lip and once again glancing away.

            "I'm sorry George, I just can't tell you any more right now.  You're the last person on earth that I want to hurt, or have upset with me, but just give me a little bit longer.  Please?  It won't be much longer now."  With that, Alinora stepped back, causing George to drop his grip on her.

            "Ali…"

            Reaching up, she placed her hand over his mouth to stop him from talking.  "Don't.  I love you dearly George, but don't ask me about this again.  I can't.  I…"  Shaking her head, she stopped again.  She smiled slightly, ran her hand down over his check then quickly turned and walked out of the common room, leaving George to stand there in silence pondering everything she'd said.

*************

            Taking advantage of what was becoming one of the most well known secrets in Gryffindor house; Alinora found her way down to the kitchens and got food from the House Elves so she wouldn't have to join the others for lunch.  She then hid out in the library until everyone would've gone down to eat before returning to the tower.

            Kicking off her shoes, Alinora settled down on the window seat over looking the grounds and the lake.  Pulling her knees up to her chin, she wrapped her arms around her legs, rested her chin on her knees and stared out the window.  She wasn't staring at anything in particular, nor was she really noticing anything outside, but it was something to do while contemplating the feeling of something not quite being right.

*************

            When everyone started trickling back in after lunch, they found Ali still staring off into space.  Katie attempted to go say 'hi', but found that Ali'd put up some sort of barrier to keep that from happening.  Katie figured at this point she could probably take it down- it didn't feel all that strong- but decided not to disturb her when she obviously needed some time alone.

            Various groups of students settled into seats around the room, talking, working on homework or playing games.  Behind the noise they made, there was the sound of humming coming from Alinora.  She had a habit of doing that when she was concentrating hard on something, like homework, and they were all fairly use to it.  That's why it came as a surprise when it suddenly cut off.

            George and the gang looked over at Ali to see what had happened.  She was staring out the window as she had been since they'd returned, but now she actually seemed to be looking at something.  Her eyes had gone wide and, as they watched, she slowly stood up on the window seat, still staring at something outside.  And then she screamed, clutching at her head, and falling to her knees on the seat.

            Her scream was piercing- traveling throughout the common room and up the stairs, causing everyone in the tower to cringe and cover their ears in a vain attempt to block out the sound.  Just as suddenly as it started, she stopped screaming.  George shook his head, trying to clear it after the barrage of noise it had just suffered from.  He looked up in time to see Ali jump off the window seat and take off running for the door to the hallway.  She had a slight trickle of blood running down either side of her face where her finger nails had punctured her skin.  As she passed him, he heard her mumble something about the lake- having not considered that it could be the lake.  Then, she was gone and out the door.

            Everyone in the common room, and the students congregating on the stairs who'd heard the scream, looked at each other in confusion.  Then, George was up and running after Ali.  The rest were quick to follow.

*************

            It had all just clicked in Ali's mind.  All the headaches she'd been getting, the feeling of things being off in some way… it all suddenly made horrible sense.  Knowing she had to get to the lake as quickly as she could, Alinora raced down the stairs, which, as if sensing the urgency, were luckily all in the correct position for to continue her headlong race down them.  She could hear racing steps behind her, but ignored them.  As she reached the bottom and entered the entrance hall, she saw Dumbledore and the rest of the Professors heading towards her from another hallway.  She slowed to a halt at a signal from Dumbledore and tried to catch her breath.

            As the Professors reached her, Alinora told Dumbledore in a low voice, "It's the lake.  The whole time, all those headaches…  They've been testing the wards that run through the lake.  I don't know why I didn't see it sooner!"  Grinding her teeth in frustration, she stared up at him.

            Dumbledore looked faintly startled, and then nodded as if everything now made sense to him as well.  "Something has begun attacking the outer wards of the school, near the main entrance.  We are already mobilizing the school's defenses, but I can't do anything about the lake's wards yet."  The look in his eyes was kind, and slightly concerned, as he looked down at the petite woman standing in front of him.  "You've known something like this was coming.  Everything you've done since coming here has been in preparation for this, and you've prepared as much as anyone possibly could without knowing what to prepare for.  You're the only one here qualified to handle those defenses- the lake has always been our weak spot for that very reason.  I have no idea how long it'll take to handle the forces at our gates, but I have to do that before I can strengthen the rest of the wards.  You'll have to hold them on your own until then."

            Ali took a deep breath and nodded.  Glancing quickly towards the steps and all those she now counted as friends and family- those she loved- she turned back to Dumbledore.  "I'll do it.  Just don't go taking your time up here!" she said, attempting to smile.  Taking one last quick glance back at the worried look on George's face, Alinora turned towards the outer doors and was off running again.  She could hear Dumbledore calling out orders to the students and teachers and thought she heard someone call out to her, but she couldn't stop again.

            Running as quickly as she could across the grass, Alinora didn't head towards her normal spot on the lake's edge.  This time she headed for the cliff side, a high overhang that lead to one of the deeper areas of the lake.  Now, she knew she heard the sound of running feet behind her.  As she approached the edge above the water, Ali picked up the pace a little and launched herself out into a dive.

            George and Katie, who'd been following, slowed in startled surprise to see her dive off the edge of the cliff, and then raced forward again to look over for a glimpse of Alinora.

            They stared down in silence, Katie grabbing hold of George's arm as they waited for her to surface.  Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Ali broke the surface of the water.  She spared them a quick glance, and waved briefly, before diving back under the surface.  As her body flipped to follow the dive, George and Katie looked at each other in shock.

            "Was that…  I can't have seen what I thought I just saw?  Could I?!?" Katie babbled.

            "Well… if you saw something that looked Alinora with a tail like a… like a mermaid, then I think we both just saw the same thing.  So, unless we're both spontaneously hallucinating- and I know **I** haven't eaten anything Fred's given me in ages- that must have been what we saw.  And if you could explain to me how that's possible, I'd really appreciate it.  That's one bloody enormous secret to be keeping…" George finished softly to himself.  He stared down into the water, watching the ripples from her passing fade away.  Then shaking his head, he turned to Katie.  "We have to get back; Dumbledore was saying something about people attacking the school.  I have a feeling this is one of those things Ali was trying to prepare for, by training us.  I think we need to go help."

            Katie looked rebellious for a moment- George could understand as he wanted nothing more to stay and look for Ali too, but the sooner they got rid of the invaders here, the sooner Dumbledore could help Ali.  Finally, Katie sighed.  "You're right, though it pains me to say it and I'll deny it if asked about it in the future.  Let's go."

            They turned to return to the school.  As they got closer, they could hear the sounds of yelling and screaming.  At that they both started running, pulling out their wands as they prepared to join the defense.


	24. 23 The Battle

**Chapter 23: The ****Battle**

*************

            Alinora swam quickly through the murky, lake water, her transfigured legs propelling her faster than her human legs ever could have.  Though she could've made it to the Merpeople's community with her eyes closed, she determinedly focused on her path to distract her mind from dwelling on what might be going on back at the school or what might have already happened ahead of her while she had been trying to figure out what was going on.  Staring out the window earlier, she hadn't been able to put all the pieces together until she'd noticed the lake's resident giant squid suddenly disappear from where it had been sunning itself.

            That, and the pain that had hit her as the full attack had begun, finally caused the pieces to fall into place.  She'd bound herself to the lake's wards the previous year- driven by a sense of need that had begun upon her discovering the thriving Mer village after the second challenge in last year's Triwizard Tournament.  Until then, it hadn't occurred to her that Merfolk even lived in lakes- all she had ever known lived in the ocean; but when she heard about the ward and that they were there as one of it's guardians…  Knowing that they held no magical abilities of their own, she had decided that it was her responsibility to add what magic she could- to both help protect the school and to try to make sure that, should anything happen, the Mer were protected as well.  Her headaches had been caused by the testing of the wards in what was obviously preparation for this attack.  Had she figured it out sooner, she might have saved herself weeks of pain.  But it was way too late to worry about that now.

            By her link to the lake's protections, she could tell that the wards were still holding, but that they were taking a major beating.  Luckily, as she was no longer fighting the bond, her head didn't ache from it.

            From her surroundings, Ali could tell she was getting close and decided to start her final preparations.  As she'd spent the past year and a half hiding her background from her friends and classmates, she had decided that disguising who and what she was now would be a good thing as well.  To that end, she put into place a few final illusion charms she'd worked out.  To better match the appearance of the locals, she darkened her skin to a shade of gray and her hair to a dark green.  Her eyes she left alone, though the blue green shade was vastly different than the yellow they should be to truly fit in, since the charm often made her eyes itchy.  The last thing she did before reaching the village was to safely entangle her wand within her hair- no Merperson could use a wand and it would be a dead give away that she wasn't what she appeared to be- on the off chance that whoever was attacking them wasn't clued in completely by the magic she was about to be performing…

            Swimming swiftly through the village now, she noticed that the normally busy area was eerily empty.  Based on previous reconnaissance, Alinora knew that the most obvious place to stage an attack was from one of the underwater caves.  There were a few that had formed in such a way that instead of being filled with water, they were dry and accessible by those who couldn't breath underwater.  She'd used some of them herself when she came to visit and didn't want to waste her energy keeping up the charm that allowed her to breathe as the Merpeople do.  One such cave passed right above one boundary of the ward- it ran just below the water's surface in the cave.  That was where she headed, and in that vicinity is where she finally found a familiar face- the Merchieftainess.

            "How are things going?  Is anyone hurt?  Do we know how many are in on the attack?  I'm **so** sorry I wasn't here sooner!" Ali was almost stumbling over the words in her haste to ask her questions.

            Murcus' face was quite expressionless in response, "We've had a few injuries, but nothing serious yet.  There appear to be only three in the chamber, but there may be more in the tunnels that we can't see yet.  We have not been able to contact Albus to inform him of the attack.  What's happening on land?"

            Alinora quickly explained about the two pronged attack on the school and that Dumbledore would be helping with the wards once he was freed from the land defense.

            "Then, we will hold until that point."

            "I want your people to pull back once I'm in position.  I have a new spell that I think will buy us some time.  It's purely defensive, but has been quite effective during testing."  _On land_, she added silently to herself, refusing to consider that it may not be quite as effective here and in her current form.

            With a short nod, the Merchieftainess was off, gathering his people to him to spread the word.  Ali headed off to the cave.  Upon arrival, she threw up a shield charm to protect herself while she got into position and was able to start the spell.  She watched the Merpeople, armed only with long spears; fade back as she came into view.

            Looking up through the murky water, before she came into sight of those above, she could see the three men Murcus had mentioned.  She recognized none of them, though the blonde man in front was vaguely familiar- as if she'd seen him before somewhere.  He wore a strange pin on his cloak that looked vaguely like an eye with a black design inside it, though she couldn't see it clearly enough to tell exactly what it was.  Shaking her head to clear it of distracting thoughts, Ali surfaced.

            _Now, what exactly is the best way to get the attention of three, evil Death Eater's who are determined to invade a school used to train young witches and wizards?  Well… since it worked so well earlier in the common room…_ Alinora screamed.  In the common room, channeling through her bond with the Merpeople, she'd unconsciously switched to their language in her pain.  Now, she did it to catch their attention; and it worked quite successfully.  The piercing scream echoed throughout the cavern causing the men to break off their current spells and cover their ears in pain.  Too late Ali realized that a disarming charm might have been a better choice, though perhaps less satisfying in the short term- they'd caused her quite a lot of pain recently and she was quite happy to share now.

            "Now that I have gotten your attention, what do you think you're doing here?  You do not belong in this place.  You should leave immediately, before you try to take things far enough that we are forced to end it for you.  I am Guardian of this ward, and you shall not pass."  Alinora had surfaced in the middle of the opening, and was glaring angrily around at the men, finally focusing on the blonde, who appeared to be in charge.

            "Silly fish-girl.  We shall pass if we want to.  Nothing you puny Mer creatures can do will stop us.  You're only causing yourselves pain in the foolish defense of a _human_ school, run by a meddlesome old fool.  Now, stand aside or you will not survive long enough to see just how stupid your pathetic attempts at bravery actually are!"  At that, the wizard raised his wand threateningly in her direction.

            Alinora shook her head slightly in response.  "So you _really_ want to do this the hard way…?" she murmured softly.  In a slightly louder voice, she answered back, "I have offered fair warning.  On your heads' it be.  The responsibility for your fate is yours and you have chosen this path of your own free will.  So be it."  The words felt like an oath, she had no idea where they were coming from, but they felt right.  The blonde's eyes widened slightly at her proclamation, and then narrowed again in anger.  Ali took that moment of distraction to dive under the surface and into the area of water that flowed through the ward.

            Praying to whatever benevolent deity might be listening, Ali began her defense spell.  Though afraid that it wouldn't work as well here as it had during practice, as soon as she began to sing she realized that those fears were groundless.  The spell worked even better here, in the environment that had always felt so comfortable to her.  Her joy in the song and the energy it produced flowed through her, strengthening her defense and spreading through the woven strands of the ward to form a solid barrier to the spells being cast from above.  Giving herself over to the music and her natural instincts, Alinora sang on.

*************

            Alinora had no idea how long she'd been singing when she was distracted by the actions above her in the cavern.  She'd been aware for a while that the three above were beginning to get rather frustrated at not being able to break through her defense.  She figured they knew by now that she wasn't a normal Merperson, but as her spell was so completely different from anything any human witch or wizard had ever come in contact with, they weren't being very successful in unraveling it, or stopping her from continuing it.  Unfortunately she had a feeling that they were going to soon resort to the Unforgivable Curses; and she wasn't sure how well things would hold against spells of that nature and power.  She could feel the beginnings of tiredness pushing at the back of her mind, but she ignored it and continued on.

            Above her, she could see that one of the men in the back of the room had become distracted.  He was looking around him nervously, staring above him at the rocky ceiling and behind him into the dark tunnel leading from the cavern.  Alinora couldn't tell what had startled him, but the second man was suddenly distracted as well.  She was desperate to know what was going on, but couldn't afford to stop enough to take a closer look.

            Suddenly, she noticed a slight trickle of water start down the far wall of the cavern.  She was surprised, wondering what was going on, but decided that a distraction of her own might be in order.  Thinking quickly, she decided simple and easy was the way to go, and the first thing to come to mind were Fred and George's magical paintballs.  It wasn't easy to incorporate into a purely defensive spell, but she somehow managed and suddenly there were flying balls shooting out of the water to splatter harmlessly on the men within.  They didn't do any real harm, but the distraction was enough.

            The trickle down the far wall suddenly got heavier and, even under the water, Alinora could hear a strange creaking and rumbling noise.  Startled, she chanced moving up to the surface, still continuing the spell to deflect anything coming in her direction, so she could get a better look.  The rumbling was coming from the tunnel leading into the cavern.  As Ali watched, chunks of rock started falling from the ceiling, hurling down towards the men inside.  She realized her own danger when a large chunk of stone splashed down near by.  Losing control of her spell, she ducked back under the surface of the water, and watched as the men attempted to get out of the cavern, but it was obvious that the tunnel had been collapsed first and they were trapped.  They were still enough on Hogwart's grounds that Apparating didn't work either…  Before they could think to try escaping via the lake, the entire ceiling collapsed down, showering them with rocks and rushing water.

            Alinora was caught in the rushing current and swept about uncontrollably.  Glancing up in trepidation, she saw a chunk of rock falling towards her.  Unable to move out of the way in time, it hit her in a glancing blow to the side of her head.  _Oh bloody hell, not again…_ was all she had time to think before she drifted to the lake's bottom, unconscious.

*************

            Up on land, things were no less chaotic, but a lot drier.  The battle there was being waged between a couple dozen hooded Death Eaters and most of the Professors and older students of Hogwarts.  Luckily, the wards were holding which protected the school's defenders from most of the worst spells being flung at them, though not all.  A few students had already been removed from the scene to be taken up to Madam Pomfrey and the defenders had managed to knock out a few of the Death Eaters as well.

            When the wards didn't go down after the battle had been raging for a while, the mood on the attackers' side grew slightly more desperate.  Dumbledore simply smiled- Alinora had said that she would hold the wards together on her side and she seemed to be following through with her end of the bargain.  It was time for him to finish up with this so he could do the same.  Turning, he caught the eye of George Weasley.  Dumbledore inclined his head slightly at which George nodded in response before turning to grab the attention of Fred, Katie and Ginny.

            "It's time.  Ready?  Dumbledore requires a distraction- I think we're incredibly qualified to give it to him."

            "Yeah, we have so much experience at this type of job, I _almost_ feel sorry for those guys." Fred added shooting an angry glare at the hooded figures just outside the gates to the school.

            Each had previously stashed their broom near by, which they now retrieved.  As they climbed on, each tucked away their wands- they wouldn't need them for this.  Taking to the air they were careful to fly high enough that they wouldn't be too obvious to those on the ground, as they were now outside the protection of the wards.  At a nod from Ginny, signifying that all were in position, they each began flinging spells down upon the invaders.  They mainly stuck to their standard of magic paintballs, though the twins were quick to start improvising with other effects they'd previously used successfully in other venues.  Despite the seriousness of the situation, Katie and Ginny found it difficult not to laugh when they observed one attacker suddenly sprout yellow feathers.

            Though they were fairly high up in the sky and traveling swiftly, it was only a matter of time before someone on the ground noticed them and started trying to return the favor.  The four were finally forced to start dodging a few random hexes that managed to make it up to them.  Before things could get too difficult though, they spotted a group approaching from the direction of Hogsmeade.

            A couple of the Death Eaters also spotted the group of Aurors, which Dumbledore had contacted earlier, approaching them from behind.  In their typical fashion, they didn't warn their fellows, but simply Apparated away from the scene.  The rest were conveniently surprised and most were apprehended.

            After speaking briefly to the Auror in charge, Dumbledore excused himself so he could return to his office to check on the state of the lake's wards.  George and Katie were right behind him, followed by a slightly confused Fred and Ginny.  Upon reaching his office, Dumbledore went to stand in front of a rather garishly designed wall tapestry.  Waving his hand across the surface, the image shifted until it showed a detailed map of Hogwarts and the surrounding areas.

            "Wards." Dumbledore said firmly, at which the image shifted again to show a multitude of glowing lines weaving their way around the school.  "Lake." he clarified as the image shifted to focus on that area of the map.  One section, deep on the far edge of the lake, was slightly frayed though glowing as strongly as the others.  It was not too badly damaged, but obviously had seen some wear.  As they watched though, the line darkened and filled in until it was as unbroken as those in other areas of the lake.

            "Humm, it would seem that she is not in need of my help with the wards."  Stroking his beard consideringly, Dumbledore studied the map while the others stared at him in mounting frustration.  Finally, Katie broke the silence.

            "Yes, well that's all well and good, but how is Alinora?  Is she on her way back?  Is she okay??"

            He smiled reassuringly at the angry blonde and then at the rest.  "I'm sure she'll be on her way back to the school soon.  I'll attempt to contact Murcus to double check, but I'm sure she's fine.  I suggest you all go get something to eat.  I have a feeling that once your body recovers from the recent events you'll notice that you're quite hungry.  There should be food set up in the Great Hall by now.  Go along, I'll be sure to tell you when I hear something.  I'm quite sure she's fine!" he stated emphatically again at their looks of doubt.  Reluctantly they left the room and made their way back down to the Great Hall.

            As the afternoon stretched on, there was still no sign of Ali.  George had taken to pacing the length of the common room.  Katie had disappeared for a while to help out in the Hospital Wing, but was back soon enough to join them in waiting.  As darkness began to fall, George slipped out of the school and headed down to the shore of the lake.  Wrapping his cloak around himself, he settled down to wait.  Just before full dark, someone settled down beside him.  Glancing over, he saw Katie.

            "I made the others promise to wait in the tower.  All of us disappearing would be too obvious.  Though, I doubt Dumbledore will have any doubts as to where we are if he comes looking."

            George shrugged resignedly before turning back to stare out over the dark lake.

*************

            They'd been staring out over the lake for hours it seemed, nudging each other every once and a while when one or the other thought they'd seen something.  Each time, they found they were mistaken.  Finally, they began to hear a faint splashing from out over the lake.

            "_Lumos_" Katie whispered as they both got quickly to their feet.  They made their way down as close to the water as they could, straining to see far enough out to identify what had made the noise.  In the distance they could make out a dark form heading towards them.  As they watched, the form came closer and became three separate forms.  Finally they could see that it was two of the lake's Merpeople and they were supporting the limp figure of Alinora between them.  They could see a bandage wrapped around her head.

            George waded out into the lake, ignoring the cold water that quickly soaked though his clothing.  "Ali?  Is she okay?" he asked, concern evident in his voice, as he turned to the two carrying her and moved forward to take her from them.

            They looked at each other, but didn't respond.  From behind them surfaced a slightly more familiar person- the Merchieftainess.  Swimming closer, he replied to George's question in halting English.  "She has been hurt- hit in the head.  She woke briefly, but was soon unconscious again.  We bring her back for healing."

            "Thank you." George replied as he gathered Ali into his arms.

            The three Merpeople nodded and slipped back into the lake and disappeared.  George clumsily made his way back to shore where Katie was waiting.

            "We need to get her to Madam Pomfrey now.  I have no idea how long she's been unconscious, but it's not a good sign.  She needs to be warm and dry- I can at least do something about that."  Katie pulled off her cloak, cast a drying spell on Ali and George, and then securely wrapped the cloak around Alinora.  "Okay, now let's get her inside." she said, hurrying George along the lawn and up to the entrance to the school.


	25. 24 The Aftermath

**Chapter 24: The Aftermath**

*************

            George and Katie carefully carried Alinora up through the winding stairways that lead up to Madam Pomfrey's domain.  It was late, well past the time when they should've been back in Gryffindor tower; but luckily they didn't meet anyone along the way.

            As if sensing their presence, Madam Pomfrey met them at the door.  "Bring her over here.  What happened?"

            As George carefully laid Ali down on the indicated bed, Katie gave Madam Pomfrey the little information they had received from the Merpeople.  Tsking softly, she bent to examine the wound on Ali's head, glancing curiously at what had been used to bind it; it appeared to be some form of plant life.  Straightening up, she turned back to Katie and George who were anxiously waiting near by.

            "She'll be fine.  She appears to have a slight concussion from the blow to her head.  I'll fix that up in no time.  She just needs to sleep for now.  The two of you should be returning to your tower.  No good sitting around here- there's nothing you can do to help her at this stage.  You can come visit tomorrow… or later on today." she amended ruefully, glancing at a near by clock.  "Off with you!"

            Reluctantly, the two did as she asked and headed slowly back to the tower.

*************

            The next morning, they were back with the others to visit.  Unfortunately, Alinora still had not awakened.  Madam Pomfrey had healed the head wound while she slept, but had no idea how long it would be until she woke up.  Discouraged, the group left again when prodded by Madam Pomfrey.

            Not knowing exactly what the others should and should not know about Alinora's activities of the day before, George and Katie had simply told their friends that Ali had been hurt helping with another facet of the school's defense and should be up and about soon.  While Fred and Ginny had a feeling that there was more to the story, the others were content to leave the explanation at that for now.

            It was a rather subdued group at lunch that day.  Most of the school was still reeling from the previous day's attack.  There had been dozens of worried letters from parents who wanted to check on the safety of their children.  Luckily, most of the injuries sustained the day before had been easily healed and there had been no fatalities among the defenders.

            After a rather tasteless lunch, everyone prepared to return to the tower; they had classes the next day and nobody had accomplished much the day before.  Katie was walking with Alicia and Angelina when she heard her named called.  Turning, she saw Dumbledore walking towards her.

            "Go on, I'll catch you up in a minute." she said to the others as she turned to meet him.  "Yes, Professor?"

            "I feel some sort of an explanation is due to you and the others concerning… the events of yesterday.  Would you be so kind as to gather the other three and join me in my office at half past the hour?  The password is **_Everlasting Gobstoppers_**."  With a smile and a brief nod, he was gone.  Katie quickly made her way up to the tower to inform the others.

*************

            "Thank you all for coming.  I'm not sure what Mr. Weasley and Miss Bell have told you about the situation Miss Roane was involved in yesterday, but I felt a more complete explanation might be appreciated."  Dumbledore looked around at the four students sitting in various locations around his crowded office.  Fred and Ginny were looking at the other two with puzzled expressions while Katie looked concerned and George stoically ignored the rest, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore's face.

            Nodding slightly, Dumbledore leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk, placing his fingertips together and staring at them over the top of his spectacles.  "I know that Alinora has explained the events that led up to her transferring to Hogwarts last year.  Upon joining us, she chose to keep certain aspects of her background and family to herself.  She had grown up rather isolated from people her own age and especially those who were also magically inclined.  Based on incidents earlier in her life, she was a bit wary of how she would be accepted, as I imagine most would be in her situation and considering what she'd recently been through…"

            "Excuse me, Professor, but what _is_ the story with her family and background?  It's pretty obvious that something happened yesterday that has completely freaked George and Katie, but neither has said a word about what it was.  All I know is that Alinora's currently unconscious in the Hospital Wing and something happened yesterday that concerned her and the wards under that lake, though I can't figure out how she had much to do with that."  Fred had been looking at Dumbledore, but was distracted by a snort from Ginny.

            "Oh come on now Fred, you mean you really don't know?  It's so blatantly obvious…"

            "Yeah, that she's some sort of a mermaid!" George broke in, anger, confusion and hurt warring with each other in his expression.

            "Oh please!  George, you **know** that's not the case!  Think for a minute, why don't you?  Merpeople can't exist outside of the water for the length of time Ali's been here- I don't care how often she's hanging out down by the lake.  Besides, have you paid no attention to her last name?!?"  Ginny looked at the others, the twins and Katie with various degrees of confusion showing on their faces.  She could've sworn Dumbledore was smirking, so she ignored him to turn back to George.  "I realize that reading is not your favored way to spend time, but have you never heard of the Roane?  Scottish and Irish folklore?  Selkies?!?  Alinora isn't a mermaid, but I'll bet her mother is a selkie- her name states it pretty clearly and she as much as admitted it the one time I asked her."

            Ginny crossed the room to kneel down beside George.  "Look, I know that you're confused about what's been going on.  I know that you're worried about Ali, but you have no reason to be angry at her.  She told you yesterday that she would explain things to you as soon as she could.  She wasn't lying to you- she never has.  She is exactly what she says she is- a witch… a very human witch.  And the way you're reacting now would hurt her more than whatever went on yesterday in the lake… you know that." she added softly to him, reaching out to cover his tightly clenched hand with her own.  George's eyes went wide as what she'd said sank in, and then he closed his eyes, covering his face with his other hand.

            "Ginny is correct.  Alinora's mother is a selkie, one of the Roane, though her grandmother _is_ a mermaid.  As Ali has told me on many occasions when we've discussed the topic, she doesn't understand the genetics involved behind a mermaid having a selkie daughter, though the two are related, but we assume that her grandfather must have had some selkie blood in order for things to have turned out as they have.  Ali is completely human, and a very talented witch at that when it comes to transfiguration.  Professor McGonagall has been **very** happy to have her here for the past year." Dumbledore added, smiling around at the group.  Growing slightly more sober, he continued, "And if you want to be angry at Ali not telling you about her family and background sooner, you can blame me.  I made her promise over the summer, when she was here, that she wouldn't tell anyone for a while.  She had foreseen a time when it would be important for her to be bound to the lake's wards- yesterday that came to pass- and to that effect I felt that letting it be known, to even her friends, what she is and her abilities, our advantage might be lost.  That was not an easily won argument and I know she has complained about it considerably in letters home."

            "So… Ali is an Animagus?" Fred suggested tentatively.

            Dumbledore began to laugh.  "If you value your life Mr. Weasley, I suggest you not mention that to Alinora!  She takes it quite amiss when the subject comes up, since, if she's an Animagus, it would mean that her grandmother was considered an animal.  And though the two don't always see eye-to-eye, and Ali is constantly baiting her, Ali will never agree that her grandmother is any less human than she is.  No, as I said, Alinora is just very talented in transfiguration… and other subjects…

            "I think you have enough to think about for now.  Perhaps it would be best to stop the explanations here and let you have time to consider what you've heard." Dumbledore said, getting to his feet.  The others rose and silently headed back to the hall to think on everything they'd heard that afternoon.

*************

            Another day passed and still Alinora slept on.  While refusing to call it a coma, Madam Pomfrey had admitted that she wasn't sure why she wasn't waking.  Discussing it later that evening, George made a passing comment on how much energy Ali must have expended during her defense and how it wasn't so hard to imagine that she'd be tired.  He missed the glances that Katie and Ginny exchanged as the implications of his comment hit them both.

            The next day, as soon as they could get free, Ginny and Katie headed up to see Alinora.

            "Do you really think this will work?" Katie asked, as they settled in chairs on either side on Alinora.

            "I have no idea, but George might be right.  I don't think Ali's tired, but I do think she's drained.  She poured a lot of herself into that ward to hold it together, I think she's trying to recoup that magical energy she expended and until she does, she won't wake.  We've shared power before- since that morning before Christmas, we've been seeing how it is that it works for the three of us.  I think we can 'feed' her now, enough that she can recover faster.  Even if it doesn't work, it can't hurt to try."  Ginny reached a hand across the bed to Katie and both took one of Alinora's hands with the other.

            The circle between them now complete, both began the mental exercises that they'd discovered helped them open the channels for their magic to flow through.  Ginny's included visualizing flames, while Katie's was watching ripples of water.  Eyes closed, both focusing intently, they struggled to find the essence of 'Alinora' and bring it back to the surface.  Slowly, they began to hear the sound of music- signaling that they were succeeding as this was Ali's sign.  Having now found her, the two gently began channeling power through the link, attempting to fill the void they could sense that still remained after almost two days of rest.

            After a while Katie broke contact, ending the cycle.  Ginny looked at her with a dazed look as she struggled to return completely to the reality around her.

            "I think we'll have to leave the rest to her, since we don't want to hurt her by pushing things too quickly, but I really think she should be waking in another day or so." Katie explained.

            "There you two are!  We've been wondering where you'd disappeared to.  You missed dinner.  Have you been up here the whole time?"  They turned to see Angelina, Fred, Alicia and Lee entering the room.  "George'll be up in just a minute, Dumbledore stopped him in the hall." Angelina continued.  "Is she doing any better?"

            "I'm no expert," Katie said, grinning tiredly at them, "but I think she'll be back with us in another day or so."

            George entered in time to hear Katie's response.  Looking at the tired expressions on her and Ginny's faces, he quickly looked at Ali.  For the first time since she'd been brought back she seemed truly to be asleep, peacefully asleep, and not simply unconscious.  A broad smile spread across his face as he hurried over to swing first Katie and then Ginny into a big hug, murmuring a quiet 'Thank you' to them both.

            Pulling up chairs, the group settled down around Alinora's bed to begin giving her the run down on what had been happening for the past couple days, despite the fact they weren't sure she could even hear them.  Luckily, the rest of the room was empty or Madam Pomfrey might have done more than stare at them sternly when she stopped by a little later to warn them that they needed to be back to the tower on time.  Eventually, they began gathering up their belongings and returning their chairs to where they found them.  Calling final good nights to Ali, they headed back towards Gryffindor tower.  

            George hung back for a moment.  Leaning over the bed, he lightly kissed Ali on the forehead and smoothed down the covers.  "Sleep well Ali.  I expect to see you up causing trouble tomorrow.  Otherwise, I may be forced to take drastic measures- and I think you'll be a little easier to handle right at the moment than you normally are- maybe that'll finally give me a bit of an advantage..."  He smiled and brushed a wisp of hair back from her forehead, wondering if it were just his imagination or maybe she really was smiling…  With one last pat on her hand, he quietly left the room.


	26. 25 Ali Wakes

**Chapter 25: Ali Wakes**

*************

            _Images of shadowy figures, seemingly threatening, followed her where ever she tried to hide.  A deep seated fear that, where ever she went, she was too late to stop whatever it was that she needed to do; and that she would be forever blamed for it.  Tired.  So very, very tired…_

_            Then came the flames and the sound of trickling water.  They caught her attention- drew it away from her fears and finally allowed her to relax- to help her rest and recoup her strength.  To help her forgive herself for any imagined deficiencies, for feeling that she might have been too late…_

_            And then, finally, came the song, and there was nothing left but the three- the flame, the water and the music.  She slept._

*************

            "…is about to do something drastic.  Madam Pomfrey won't let many people come visit you until you wake up, mainly just the seventh years, but Ginny's been allowed to come too, which bothered him.  So Ginny's taken to borrowing Harry's Invisibility Cloak so we can sneak her in and out of the tower so Colin doesn't feel hurt…"

            Alinora heard the voice coming from somewhere nearby, but wasn't quite awake enough yet to place who it was and what they were talking about.  She tried to open her eyes, or get her sleep fuzzy mind to concentrate, and slowly things started coming into focus.

            "'orge?  S'at you?" she mumbled, trying to turn her head to the side to see.  Nothing seemed to be working correctly though- she was really, really stiff.  "Why can't I move?" she asked plaintively.

            "Ali!  You're awake!"  The joy was evident in George's voice as he quickly got up from the chair he was sitting in to help Ali struggle into a more upright position.  "Take it easy, you've been… asleep for quite a while."

            Alinora leaned back against the pillows George had arranged behind her and looked around the room, finally noticing where she was.  "How did I…" she began and then she sighed.  "I got hit by another bloody rock!  Now I remember…" she continued with a trace of disgust.  "Really need to learn to dodge a bit better, huh?  So, how is everyone else?  Were you hurt?  Is everyone else okay?  Were you saying something had happened to Colin?"  Alinora asked anxiously, staring up at George.

            "We're all fine; nothing's wrong with Colin.  The most people got were some minor cuts or hits from random hexes.  That was all taken care of pretty quickly.  It seems that you were the only real casualty of the fight." he teased gently.  "Murcus explained to Dumbledore what happened down there and how you were hurt, but other than that we've heard no details.  We've been waiting for you to wake up."

            Ali's expression went still.  "So… did Dumbledore explain my involvement in all this?"

            Looking into her eyes, George knew she wasn't referring to what might have gone on during her defense of the ward.  She was asking what he'd been told about her… and how he felt about it.  George paused for a moment before answering.  He'd given a lot of thought to what Ginny had said the previous day- and what she'd said to him later as well.  Once the four had returned to the common room, Ginny had dragged him off to a secluded corner to continue the conversation…

*************

            "So, how are you feeling now?  Things clearer, or even worse?"

            "I'm still reeling, but I think you're right- I'm upset over Ali being hurt and it's coming out as anger at her, though it's more that whole feeling of not being able to do anything to help.  And I really wish I could've known about all this sooner, but I guess I can see why that would be bad…"

            Ginny grinned, "No you can't, I can tell by the look on your face.  You forget, I'm your sister and I can read all of you guys like books- which you really ought to start doing so you don't get in similar situations in the future!"  She laughed.  "Stop and think for a moment.  Had you or anyone else around here known her background- being raised by a family that included both a selkie and a mermaid, wouldn't you imagine that there's probably more to her than to the rest of us 'normal' students.  And she's a wiz in most of her classes, though she's down played that pretty successfully for most of the time she's been here.  In fact, until she went after Snape the other day, I bet most of your class had no idea that she knew all that and was that far ahead of the rest of you.  Luckily, the attack was right after that so the information didn't have a chance to filter down to someone who might have made good use of it.  Her actions Friday didn't fit the student persona she's encouraged.  She doesn't hide it as much around here, and us, but she has to, to an extent, because any one of us could say something to the wrong person, which could've made Saturday's attack many times worse than it was.  We might have lost people.  We might have lost Ali if someone knew to be prepared for a true water defense."

            George considered her words for a while, and then nodded.  "I can see that.  But doesn't that just show that she's been lying to us the whole time she's been here?"

            "Are you **trying** to convince yourself that she's in the wrong here?!?" Ginny asked him in slight disbelief.  "Do you admit to everyone everything _you_ can do, everything _you're_ capable of?  No.  I doubt that anyone does.  Had you ever asked her if she already knew this stuff, she would've told you.  She was always helping those of us who asked- like with the wandless magic.  If you noticed the discrepancy and called her on it, she was always very upfront about what was going on.  And in offering to teach you how to do it too.

            "I'll admit that she wasn't upfront about being able to transfigure herself into a mermaid and the whole mother being a selkie thing, but I guess I can't really blame her.  Remember that whole mess with Hagrid last year and his being half giant?  Ali got here right before that hit.  She was just meeting all of us and then the whole scandal about half bloods broke.  And there she was, with a mother considered to be a magical creature.  I'd be a bit wary telling people too- you never know how people will react.  And by the time she felt comfortable with letting us know, here's Dumbledore telling her that she shouldn't, that it could cause problems."

            "I really do understand about that… and you're making a lot of sense with the rest of it too.  I guess I don't know why I reacted so badly to all this.  She's still Ali; I can't see how that should change based on what I now know…  I guess… I guess I'm mainly upset that she had to do this all alone.  That she couldn't tell me and that I didn't guess!  You knew, you had guessed, why didn't I??  And don't tell me I need to start reading more- I happily leave that to you and Hermione.  I feel guilty though.  I feel like I should've done more, said something- not sure what, but something that showed that her background doesn't matter.  Or that it does matter, but that it doesn't change things.  Am I making any sense at all?" he finally asked, running his hands through his hair until it began sticking up on top of his head.

            "Yes, I think so," Ginny said, smiling up at him, "and that's exactly what you're going to need to tell her.  You know she's going to be worried.  I have a feeling she's been dreading us finding out, not because she's ashamed of it or doesn't want us to know, but because she cares about our friendship and is worried that we might not be able to accept her after knowing all the details."

            "We wouldn't do that!  **I** couldn't do that!  She's amazing- one of the nicest people here, it doesn't matter who her family is!"  George was sputtering by this point which sent Ginny into giggles.

            "She'll be very happy to hear that." she finally was able to say, before giving him a quick hug and heading off to find Harry.

*************

            "George?" Alinora was looking at him curiously as he remembered that she had asked him a question.

"Yes, Dumbledore did explain your involvement, or at least he explained a little.  Then Ginny explained the rest…" George started laughing.  Shaking his head he reached out and took Alinora's hand.  "You would've been proud of her; she got so irritated at all of us for being surprised and not having figured the whole thing out months ago.  I think she's started channeling Hermione with the whole reading thing and how it solves all your problems." Glancing back at Ali, George could still see that her eyes were worried.

            "Look, I'll admit I was a bit upset when I first heard.  I didn't completely understand what was going on, you were still unconscious and couldn't be woken up.  I was afraid that one way or the other I'd be losing you because of all this.  That scared me, which made me mad, which means I was reacting badly.  Ginny pretty much beat some sense into me until I was thinking clearly, but I'm fine with things now.  Unless you really are planning on make the transfiguration permanent and going to live off in the ocean somewhere, in which case you need to wait until I figure out that whole breathing under water charm!"

            Alinora had started smiling during the middle of his explanation and was laughing by the end.  "I don't think you have to worry about that.  And you're going to have to try a whole lot harder than that to get rid of me now!" she exclaimed, grinning mischievously up at him.

             "Ali, I…"  George was cut off by the sound of the door opening and Katie's excited yell.

            "Ali!  You're awake!"  She came running across the room towards them, followed closely by Ginny, and a bit more reservedly by Fred.  Alinora caught the look of rather resigned amusement on George's face before she was enveloped in a hug from Katie and then from Ginny.  Fred simply gave her a grin and tousled her hair, which, considering how long she'd been asleep, was already rather mussed.

            "Miss me, huh?" Alinora said rather cheekily as she attempted to smooth her hair, before finally giving up and re-braiding it.  "You guys doing okay?  George said that no one was hurt?"  She peered intently at them all as they assured her that _they_ were all fine.  They'd been worried about her.

            "Me?  Why would you be worried about me?  I just got hit by a rock.  **_Again_**!" she said disgustedly, shaking her head.  "I had a concussion, right?"

            "Ali, you were out for almost three days!  It was a bit more than a concussion!"  Ginny responded.  "You were so drained that Katie and I had to channel power to you just to get your reserves up enough for you to recover.   What in the world were you doing under there?!?"

            "Excellent question Miss Weasley.  Just what we were coming to ask as well."  None of them had heard Professor Dumbledore enter, let alone Professors McGonagall and Snape who were close behind him.  "Perhaps Alinora can satisfy all of our curiosities at once, humm?" he continued, peering down at Ali.  Summoning chairs for all, he carefully settled himself in one and folded his hands into his lap to wait.

            "I take it that this means you fully explained matters to the Professors?" Ali asked him, gesturing to the other two.

            "Under the circumstances, I felt that the secrecy could be lessened slightly.  Not to worry, not all your secrets have been revealed."  His eyes twinkled merrily as she tried to glare at him, before giving in and smiling.

            "Humph!  I should certainly hope not!" she laughed.  Growing more serious, she pulled herself further upright in the bed, brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.  "Where should I begin?  What do you want to know that Murcus hasn't already told you?"

            "We know where everything took place and Murcus says that there appeared to be three attackers- is that correct?  Do you have any idea who they were?"

            "I only saw the three, so I assume that there were no more.  I don't know who any of them were, but the one, a blonde man, looked vaguely familiar…"  Alinora noticed that Snape had startled at that, shooting a quick glance at Dumbledore.

            "Could it have been Lucius?  He is blonde and a known Death Eater- this is certainly his style…"

            "Lucius Malfoy?!?  I wouldn't put anything past him!"  Fred said angrily, "After what he's done in the past…"

            "You mean Draco's father?  That would explain why he looked vaguely familiar, especially if there's a strong family resemblance…" Alinora said consideringly.  "Well, if it was, Draco's now without a father.  There's no way any of them made it out of there alive."

            "They could've Apparated…"

            "No they couldn't- still too close to the school.  If Apparating was possible there I wouldn't have been lying here for the past 3 days!"  Ali stopped speaking abruptly, looking at Dumbledore contritely, "Or was I not suppose to say anything about that yet either?  Oh bother!"  She shrugged apologetically.

            "Ali dear, care to explain that one, while we're on the topic?" Fred asked sweetly.  The rest looked rather interested too.

            "Quick answer is… if the Ministry doesn't know you have magic, they don't look for under-aged infractions of the law.  Therefore, my father felt it was a good idea to teach me how to Apparate since it could get me out of harm's way if necessary.  Once I came to Hogwart's though, I was suddenly on the list of those to watch over- thus using that horrible portkey to get home after the train ride last year.  When I had to come back to the school over the summer due to separation anxiety over being away from the ward, Dumbledore felt I needed to officially get licensed so I wouldn't be bored all summer and could quickly get where I needed to be.  He had Uncle Remi come take me and it's all legal now, though I can't do much with it while I'm here- obviously!  Okay for now?"  No one said anything, so she turned back to Dumbledore.

            "To get back to the real topic at hand- I don't know who the other two men were with Lucius; I can try to give you a description later though.  I was doing fine fending off their attempts to destroy the ward, but I could tell they were just getting more and more angry.  I had a feeling they were about to start casting… more serious spells, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to defend against them- I was already fairly tired.  About that time, I guess the Merpeople and the giant squid decided to take matters into their own hands- or tentacles, as the case may be- and collapse the passage behind them and then the cavern itself."

            "How did they get into the cavern anyway?  I thought we had blocked off any passages in from the outside?" McGonagall asked.

            "It _was_ blocked!  I checked every single passage this past summer.  I went as far up each of them as I could and reported back to Dumbledore about any that needed to be guarded against.  That particular one was blocked by a rock fall about a hundred yards up the passage from where the cavern was.  I guess they found their way in from above somewhere and cleared it out."  Considering how much effort she'd put into checking everything over the summer, Alinora was rather irritated that they'd still managed to find a way through.

            "Well, no use worrying over it now." Dumbledore said soothingly, smiling at Alinora.  "We'll have to check the others again at some point, but there's no hurry right at the moment.  They lost quite a few of their numbers during that attack Saturday- they won't be quick to return.  Though we will have to be careful that your involvement doesn't become known as I'm sure they would be rather likely to attempt retribution for your part in the whole thing."

            "I've been trying to make sure I covered as much up as possible, but those last couple days… it was pretty obvious something was going on that involved me.  I completely lost it on a couple occasions, though luckily I think only the Gryffindors were around for Saturday's fiasco." Alinora shrugged and pointedly didn't look at Professor Snape.

            Alinora was hit by a sudden thought.  "Wait a minute!  You said I've been out for three days?!?  Argh!"  She groaned in frustration.

            "What's the matter Ali?" Katie asked concernedly, "Is your head hurting again?"

            "No!  I just realized that I completely missed my birthday!  It was Sunday, the 21st.  Bloody hell!  How many holidays of mine are these people going to mess up for me!"  She ignored the look of shock on McGonagall's face, feeling incredibly put out.

            "Which reminds me, Murcus sent this along for you.  I believe it's from your mother."  Reaching a hand into a pocket, Dumbledore pulled out a well wrapped bundle and handed it to her.  Smiling happily, she took it and started untying the cords holding it together.  Inside was a box containing a pretty conch shell and a small photo album.

            Holding the shell up to her ear, Ali listened to the voice recorded within:

            "_Ali, my dear, happy eighteenth birthday!  I look forward to celebrating it with you, belatedly of course, when you come to visit after term is over.  I hope you will enjoy the enclosed pictures I have put together of your extended family.  Your Grandmother sends her love too… I won't bother to send along the rest of her message as you are only too familiar with it by now! _(there was the sound of laughter)  _Once again, I hope you have a very happy birthday!  All my love."_

            Grinning happily, eyes glowing a brilliant green, Ali turned to hand the shell to George before she turned to open up the album.  George held the shell up to his ear with a slightly puzzled look on his face, which quickly changed to startled and finally amusement as he heard the message within.

            Glancing through the pictures, Alinora suddenly looked up at Dumbledore.  "I've been wondering something… my father never spoke much about Hogwarts.  He talked about you and some of his classes, but not about much else.  He never mentioned what house he'd been placed in while he was here, which seems a bit odd considering the importance everyone places on it, but I've been thinking…  There are some pretty stereotypical personality traits that that bloody hat seems to make its decisions based on and I'm pretty convinced that Father had been in Slytherin.  Am I right?"

            Snape looked absolutely shocked, but Dumbledore simply laughed.  "I was wondering if you'd ever ask about that.  You seemed completely unconcerned with the whole topic, but yes, he was in Slytherin.  A bit before your time Severus, I think you came in the year after he left.  A very interesting person, your father.  Very determined to do things his own way and determined to a fault to do what he felt had to be done, no matter what the cost."

            "No, it was only 'no matter what the cost' until he met my mom and then had me.  Then he had a line he would not cross- something he was not willing to sacrifice.  It is amusing though.  I have wondered if he'd care that I wasn't put in his old house."

            "I think that as long as you're happy and doing what you want to do, he would be very pleased." Dumbledore said rising to his feet.  "Now I think it's time to leave you be and let you have a bit more of a look at your gift.  We'll talk again later."  Returning his chair to its original location, he walked out of the room, followed closely by McGonagall who was whispering something to him as they walked out.  Snape quickly followed, though not before giving Alinora a rather odd look that she couldn't interpret.

            Shrugging it off, she turned back to the others, smiling broadly.  "Want to see some pictures?  You saw the locket sized ones at Christmas, but these are much better."  At their nods of agreement, she opened up the album, putting it down in front of her on the bed.  "Okay, here are my parents in front of our home."  The picture showed a tall man with close cropped, curly, sandy blonde hair and a fine boned woman with very long brown hair that appeared to be blowing in the wind.  "And here's Grandmother…"  Turning to yet another picture in the book, Ali pointed out a very typical blonde mermaid, perched upon a boulder off a rocky coastline.  Her expression was vaguely haughty and they could begin to get an idea of why Alinora always spoke of her in a loving, but resigned tone of voice- she looked a little hard to deal with.  "And here I am, with Mom, a couple years ago."  Here the family resemblance was most apparent, as the two stood close together, arms around each other's waists.  Both had their hair flying loose in the breeze and were smiling happily at the camera.

            "Okay you four; it's time for you to go for a while.  It's lunch time and Miss Roane needs to eat and relax for a while.  You can all come back later on- and so can the others, if they would like.  Now that she's awake I'm less concerned with who comes to visit."  Madam Pomfrey was back, carrying a tray of food, which she sat down on a near by table to better be able to shoo them out of them room.  The others got up slowly, grumbling about having to leave when they had so much to talk about, but she was firm.

            Before he left, George leaned over to hand Ali back her mother's shell and whisper in her ear.  "By the way, in reference to something you said on Saturday…  I love you too."  Smiling at her happily amazed look, he gently kissed her on the forehead and turned to follow the others out, under Madam Pomfrey's watchful glance.

            Settling back to eat her lunch, Alinora couldn't stop smiling.  _He loves me too…_


	27. 26 A Letter Home: March

**Chapter 26: A Letter Home**

*************

            March 29th

            Hey Mom, it's me again.  Not very surprised about that I'm sure.  It's been an eventful couple weeks and I'm sorry it's taken me this long to write and let you know how things have been.

            First off though, let me say **Thank You** for the photo album.  I don't know how I hadn't made one previously, but it's perfect.  I've been showing all my friends pictures, though I'm screening some of them that are best not widely distributed.  Though my closest friends all know about the family secret now…

            I'm sure that Murcus or Dumbledore has sent word to you long before now to tell you about the minor skirmish we were involved in a week or so back.  I'm sure they also informed you that I was hurt during it- as they are always so helpful with things like that...  Hopefully, they also told you that it wasn't serious and that I'm fine.  I was in the Hospital Wing though for almost a week, which was way too long for me.  It did lead to some interesting conversations with George, who had been… conflicted over how he felt about the news of what all I've been up to, though I'm really not sure why.  He's known about Moody for about a month now, though at the time it had only been a couple weeks…  But anyway, we've worked through all that now and I think things will be just fine!  I'm very, VERY happy about that (big shocker there, huh?).

            Due to that, he has agreed to bravely venture home with me at the end of the term to see the home town and meet you and possibly Grandmother if she agrees to be nice.  If not, then I will not be responsible for any pranks pulled on her, and I might even help!  I do still have some of my Christmas gift from the guys left…  After our visit with you, I'm going to go stay with his family for a while as well.  Bit nervous about all that, though they sound like wonderful people.  But they're his **family**!  What if they don't like me???  Still months off- must remain calm…

            Also, while I was trapped in the HW, we decided to have a Girl's Night In (since _I_ couldn't leave) and we barred the guys from the room and spent a very nice evening gossiping and having a wonderful time.  It was mainly the Ladies of Gryffindor, but we included some of my friends from the other houses as well and they all camped out on the spare beds for the night.  I'm surprised that Madam Pomfrey allowed it, to be quite honest, but I think she rather enjoyed it herself- I doubt she gets much fun company up there.  I was also able to hear all those embarrassing stories about George from Ginny, who has the sister's perspective, and from the other Ladies who've known him for years.  Some of the pranks that boy has pulled…!

            Speaking of one of them that I discovered a day or two after I woke up…  I was getting cleaned up one morning and I noticed something on my back, though I couldn't get a good look at what it was.  With the help of the mirror I finally discovered that he'd placed a sort of tattoo on my back, near my left shoulder blade.  I have no idea when he did it, as I was unconscious; but I do like it and I think I'll keep maintaining the spell.  It's pretty simple, a rose in my favorite color of pinkish salmon.  According to Katie, if you look at it straight on it also has this neat trick where it shows our initials, though she thinks only another witch or wizard will see it.  I never have since I can't look at it in the proper manner, but I believe her.

            It's a bit odd having all these female friends around to hang out with, let alone being my age.  Sara isn't that much older, but the dynamics are a little different- or at least they were at the time.  I've gotten the impression from her letters that she's beginning to see me as more of an equal, or friend.  That will be nice.  I hoping to see her this summer, but I guess that depends on what her schedule is like.  I'm going to go back to that place I rented in Hogsmeade last summer.  Katie's planning on joining me and we're going to start work on our group.  Ginny plans to come spend as much time with us this summer as possible, and Dumbledore has agreed that if it doesn't affect her studies she can take off on some weekends to perform with us locally.  We still have to come up with a band name, and perfect our act (and finish learning the instruments- my drum lessons have been less than frequent recently!).  I think the gang also plans to invade a couple times as well and the Weasley's are planning a big (surprise) party for Harry's birthday this year- he'll be 16.

            And speaking of surprise parties (don't you love my transitions?), when I was finally freed from medical supervision and allowed back to the tower; they had arranged a birthday/welcome back party for me.  It was overwhelming.  I had no idea that they were planning it, and everyone was there.  Even Dumbledore and McGonagall attended and Flitwick sent a card with his best wishes.  They'd gotten the House Elves to make all sorts of wonderful food (and the twins weren't allowed to touch any of it a head of time, though I checked it all over before people ate) and they'd obviously gone into Hogsmeade to pick up party favors- probably the night we girls were busy and therefore wouldn't expect to have them around.  They 'made' me sing too.  Really twisted my arm about it.  But I made them all sing with me and the party quickly degenerated from there.

            I went back to classes today.  I didn't have a chance to tell you previously about my complete loss of control in Professor Snape's class the day before the attack, but let me tell you, I completely lost it.  I almost attacked him.  Luckily I didn't, kept it to simple verbal abuse; but the bloody man kept pushing me!  After that, and a few other revelations from after the fight, I was a bit nervous about attending class today, but he has yet to say a word about it to me.  I think I'm happy to leave it at that.  He keeps giving me weird looks though.  I wonder what's going on in that black hole of a mind he's got?  I wonder if he'd tell me if I asked?  I wonder why I care?  Who knows.

            What else am I forgetting to tell you?  Lots, I'm sure.  Oh yes, finally told them about the Apparating thing too.  I now have way too many students who want my help with that over the summer as well.  Fred and George have told me that if I don't help them, then they'll be forced to apply to their brother Percy for help and he'd probably get them splinched in retribution for all their pranks in the past.  Therefore if I want my boyfriend alive, it's my duty to help him (and therefore Fred, since they are a package deal- which I guess means Angelina too since if Fred went splinch she'd never forgive me.  And if I'm helping her then I, of course, have to help Katie and Alicia, which means I have to throw in Lee too since Alicia is a bit possessive about his well-being…  See, it just starts small and builds from there!).

            Oh, I'm getting tired, but I don't want to close this off.  When I do that, it means I'm not 'talking' to you anymore and I really miss you.  I can't wait for July and our visit- I really want you to meet George.  I think you'll really love him- I know I do.  I'm also bringing pictures of everyone else, so be prepared for a long, drawn out narrative of everyone I've met over the past year and a half!  But mainly, I want to sit with you on the beach, watching the waves crash; and do absolutely nothing.  I want to know that you're right there beside me and that I can talk to you about anything and everything and not have to try to remember what I wanted to tell you when I get the chance to write you a letter.

            But I guess I do have to end this letter.  I do have homework to do and, while I don't have to make up the stuff I missed last week, I still have a lot to do in preparation for those bloody N.E.W.T.s coming up soon- why didn't I just take those over the summer and get them over with?!?!?  Too late to worry about that now though, so I must do the homework.  Must keep up appearances.  Must practice, practice, practice so many different things!  Well, I'll at least be busy, which means the next couple months should pass quickly.

            Okay, I really am closing this off now!  Truly, I am!  Okay, here I am ending my letter… but am I done?  I guess I have to be.  Yes, yes I'm done.  All my love to you.  Be well.  Send Grandmother my love.  I'll see you both soon!

Love,

Alinora


	28. 27 Epilogue

**Epilogue: Graduation**

*************

The day was bright and sunny. A perfect day for the end of their stay at Hogwarts; most of the seventh years were wandering the grounds with their friends and family. There was no official graduation ceremony, but Dumbledore had planned a 'simple' reception for later on in the afternoon.

Alinora wasn't expecting any family to come today. There was no easy way for her mom to travel to the school and they'd decided to just wait until she and George arrived for their visit to celebrate. So, instead, she was waiting with George, his siblings Harry and Hermione who were all waiting for the rest of the Weasley clan to arrive. As Ali had not yet met his family, she was trying not to get too nervous. She would be visiting with them for a while after the visit to see her mom.

She was, therefore, quite surprised to glance around and actually see a familiar figure heading in their direction.

"Hey, is that…?" Harry began to ask.

"Uncle Remi?!?" Ali screamed as she went tearing off across the lawn towards a middle aged man with gray flecked brown hair.

"…Professor Lupin?" Harry concluded distractedly as they watched Ali throw herself into the man's arms.

"Looks like it to me. He's her uncle?" Ron responded, looking slightly confused.

George only smiled and shrugged. "Ali's definition of who's family is a bit different than ours…"

Remus Lupin, otherwise known as Remi, glanced up in surprise and looked rather startled until he recognized who was running towards him.

"Alinora!" He hugged her, then pushed back to stare down at her in shock. "What have you done to your hair?!? No wonder I didn't recognize you at first. Your Grandmother is not going to like this at all."

Ali laughed and ran a hand through her mass of short curls that had replaced her normally waist length wavy hair.

"Ginny wanted to know what my hair would look like short. She didn't believe me when I told her how curly it would get. Don't worry, I'll definitely be growing it back out before I visit Grandmother- I'm sure she'd take it as a mortal affront that any woman in her line wouldn't have the stereotypical long hair…" Ali grinned mischievously. "Though even if I can't grow it out soon enough it still was worth it to see George's expression when I showed up this morning for breakfast." she said, turning to smile and sticking her tongue out at the redhead in question. He was quick to return the favor.

"George Weasley?"

"Uhh huh."

"Ali… are you seeing George Weasley?"

"Oh, everyday Uncle Remi."

"Don't give me that troublemaker. Are you dating George Weasley?"

"Of course. You mean Mom or Dumbledore hadn't mentioned it to you?"

Remi laughed. "Dumbledore had mentioned that I would be amused by whom you had 'captured', but it didn't occur to me whom he was referring to."

"And why would you be amused?"

"When I was teaching here, Albus had asked me about you; since I'd been teaching you off and on over the years and had gotten to know you quite well. I mentioned a few of your more **_memorable_** stunts that I'd been witness to and stated that I pitied anyone here if you ever met up with the Weasley twins since between the three of you I felt you'd probably tear down the school."

"Humm, I'm sure you're right, but we've managed to keep the damage to a minimum. In fact, I think I've had rather a good effect on both of them." she said, grinning cheekily up at him. Remus only laughed and reached out to ruffle her hair and give her another hug.

As she stepped back, Alinora caught a glimpse of someone coming around the corner of the building, walking in their direction. "Remi, is Sara coming today too?"

"Possibly. Albus did mention that he'd notified a few of your former teachers about today and had invited them to attend."

"Well, if that's really Sara I'd better go grab her before she gets into any sort of trouble… though she actually looks rather normal today, which I find even more disturbing. You'd better go join the Weasley clan- you can explain the whole 'Uncle' thing which I'm sure has confused them completely!" She lifted up on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before she was off running again, this time yelling for "Sara!"

Remus chuckled and walked over to check out the supposedly reformed Weasley twins…

*************

By the time Alinora caught back up to Remi later on that day, she'd picked up not only Sara, but another former teacher who'd come to help celebrate the day, a big, bear-like man known to Ali as Unca Gerry. To everyone else, they were known as Remus Lupin, Sara Reinhold and Gerald Blackstaff, but to her they were family; and therefore had their own unique identities, which she happily continued to refer to them by.

They had finally gotten away from the various Professors who were interested in meeting Ali's 'family' and had found a secluded area of the grounds to talk for a while. Alinora had searched in vain for George and his family, but, despite her best efforts, had been unable to successfully be in the same place as them the whole day. If nothing else, she had arranged to meet George a little later on to leave for home.

"So, Ali, are you sure that this is such a good idea? Moody isn't quite the most…" Remi broke off, searching for the right word for what he wanted to say.

"…stable of individuals?" Sara finished for him, shooting Ali a grin.

Remi gave a short laugh and then nodded. "That'll do. He was a great Auror, don't get me wrong, but have you thought this through? Is this really how you want to do things? The music career you want will be more than enough to keep you busy. Adding in espionage, or whatever it is that Moody's been suggesting, could be very dangerous! If you're sure this is what you want, is he the best one to be training you?"

Alinora smiled and reached out a hand to briefly grasp his. "Remi, I have thought this through, long and hard in fact. And he didn't come to me; I went to Dumbledore, and this is what we decided would work best. We considered what _I_ want and the needs of Mr. **CONSTANT VIGILANCE!**" She fell over on the grass, laughing at the startled jumps of those around her as she yelled Moody's notorious catch phrase. Sara reached over and hit her.

"That was unnecessary." Sara remarked, but Ali could tell that she was trying to hide a smile. "Fine then, if you're quite set on it you know we'll help you all as much as we can. Just let us know. But, to turn things to much more important topics… so, when are we going dancing?" Both men groaned and Ali laughed. Sara's fondness for muggle dance clubs was notorious.

"Well, I'm spending the next week visiting Mom, the week after that will be with the Weasley's then I'll be returning to the place in Hogsmeade where I lived last summer. Katie's moving in with me. Other than that and the big party for Harry's birthday- which I'm sure you're invited to Remi, but don't mention it as it is a surprise- I could go whenever. If you find somewhere that will allow 15 year olds, we can drag Ginny and Katie too and have a complete Girl's Night Out."

The look in Alinora's eyes, as well as the expression of glee on Sara's face, was beginning to scare the other two. Gerry was making mental plans to be as far out of the country as possible before the two would have a chance to get together to do anything. He was very relieved to see a tall, red-haired boy walking in their direction. "Is that the 'George' I've been hearing about?"

Alinora glanced over her shoulder in the direction Gerry was pointing and they watched as her face lit up. "Yes, that's him!" Jumping up, she quickly went to meet him and bring him over to join them. Returning arm in arm, they joined the others seated on the ground.

"George, I know you know my Uncle Remi, but this is Sara Reinhold- who refuses to be called anything other than Sara, despite my best efforts- and Unca Gerry Blackstaff. I've known them all for many years- I've known Gerry so long that when I first met him I couldn't even say 'uncle' which is why he will forever be 'unca' to me." She laughed and smiled mischievously at them. "And this is George." she said simply, leaning in towards him with a very content look on her face. They were exchanging general pleasantries about holiday plans and future aspirations when they were interrupted.

Looking up and behind her, Alinora was surprised to see Professor Snape standing there. "Miss Roane, might I have a word with you?"

"Of course Professor." Rising to her feet, Ali turned back to say she'd be back soon, before following Snape a short distance away.

The others watched them leave with various expressions. Finally, Remi turned back to George. "You will look after her, won't you? She often tries to do too much and I'm afraid she may get herself into trouble over it. I do feel better knowing that she won't be alone, but… I've had to bury her father, and watch her mother leave as well. I don't want to see anything bad happen to her like I've seen with so many others over the years." He looked very tired and sad.

"Of course I will. She means the world to me and I will never willingly let anything bad happen to her. She has a mind of her own though, there's only so much you can do to protect her from herself, but I'll do what I can. We all will." George's response was as serious as he could make it. Nothing bad would ever happen to Ali if he had anything to say about it.

*************

"You had something to say to me Professor?" Alinora stared curiously up at the one Professor she had least expected to search her out today.

"Yes." He paused for a moment, considering her gravely, yet without his customary evil smirk. Finally, he extended his right hand out to her, "I wanted to wish you… good luck with your future endeavors. I have a feeling you'll need it, not because of any lack of skill on your part," he clarified, Ali still staring at him in confusion, "but because I think you and your friends have taken on a very difficult role."

Still reeling in shock, Alinora extend her hand to shake his. Withdrawing her hand, she stared at him intensely. "I appreciate that, but I admit to being a bit confused as to why you bothered. You've spent the past year alternating between ignoring me and pushing me to the breaking point. Why this? Why now?"

Snape gave her a slightly frosty smile, considering his answer. "I've had an idea of what you've been planning for quite a while. I also felt you were too young, not well enough trained and not qualified to handle such a responsibility- let alone drag your fellow classmates in with you. But through my _testing_, I've changed my mind. I still think you have a ways to go before you're ready, but I think you'll do. Though it pains me to say that to someone from Gryffindor." he concluded in a more normal, sour, tone of voice.

"I'll accept that, though it does appear that I have my Slytherin connections too, if that makes you feel better." Ali smirked at him. "If that's all Professor, I need to be gathering up my belongings and heading home…"

He simply nodded and, smiling in farewell, Ali turned to rejoin George and the others. As she walked away, she thought she heard one last comment…

"… and you're the only student who has ever been brave enough to ask me to dance…"

Ali smirked. _Maybe that random invitation to dance hadn't been quite so stupid after all…_

*************

Finally having escaped from friends, family and the staff, George and Alinora had been able to collect their very shrunken and lightened trunks. Hands clasped, they made their way up through the halls of the school until they reached Professor Dumbledore's office. They had been given permission to use his fireplace to floo to a safe location not far from Ali's home.

Entering the office and looking around, they saw no sign of Dumbledore. Carefully, they made their way over to the fireplace. George began looking around for the floo powder, but quickly stopped as he noticed Ali head directly towards a large lion figure standing nearby. Stopping directly in front of it, she stuck her hand out, saying **_Watermelon Jolly Rancher_** before placing her hand into the mouth of the lion. Though it growled faintly, she was able to retract her hand safely holding the necessary floo powder.

Handing half of it to George, Alinora grinned mischievously at him. Tilting her head to the side, she cocked one eye brow and looked at him. "Last chance. Sure you're up for this?"

"Bring it on," he grinned in return, "compared to my family, this is nothing!"

"Okay then. Let's go." she said, flinging her handful of powder into the fire. "Wayfarer's Inn" she stated firmly, stepped into the green flames and was gone.


End file.
